Yuki
by The Seven Petals
Summary: Uzumaki Naruto had one bond that tied her to the world. She had never spoken to the person, she had only seen her once, but she knew that she was somebody important. And when the jinchuuriki of Konoha only cared for somebody outside of Konoha, you know that there's going to be problems. FemNaru.
1. Prologue

The cave was dimly lit by the moonlight seeping through cracks, and almost everyone in the cave was asleep from either exhaustion or content achievement for the day.

However, one person couldn't.

After a couple of hours of fruitless attempts to go to sleep, the young girl gave up and went outside. The green grass was lit by the moonlight, appearing almost silver, and the fourteen year old sat cross-legged on the grass, closing her eyes.

Slowly pulling on her Kekkei Genkai, the silvery grass frosted over. The semi-transparent whiteness cracked softly as it crawled over every blade of grass, climbing up barks of trees to caress the leaves.

Her white hair slowly fell down against her back as the chakra she released lessened. Her white lashes raised, displaying pale blue eyes. They swept over the area she was sitting, taking in the snow-tipped rocks and the frozen ice slide of a waterfall. She let out a small sigh, the warm air visible in the now freezing temperature.

* * *

Blue eyes opened wide.

Uzumaki Naruto didn't move from her position, still leaning against the tree, shivering at the cold air. Once again, her apartment (if she could even call it that) had been ran to the ground, so she had been forced to sleep outside.

She was all alone. Nobody cared for her, really; she knew Iruka was following the Sandaime Hokage's orders and Sarutobi wasn't standing up for her. The Sandaime Hokage was much more concerned with the village's well-being.

Her tangled, bright blonde hair — some can even flat out call it yellow — appeared almost brown, and even as a curly mess reached her midback. The usual spikes that framed her face were limp with grime. Her body in general wasn't much better.

Still shivering, she hugged her knees to her almost flat chest in an attempt to conserve warmth. The eleven year old should have already started developing her chest, getting ready to enter puberty, but being so underfed, she had no energy to let her malnourished body enter puberty, unlike everyone else her age.

 _Wait…_

Naruto always slept outside in the forest when her apartment was unavailable, which was more often than not. The forest calmed her, the lake cleaned her, and the animals caressed her. The foxes especially loved her, and Naruto could even understand them and they her.

Her legs shaky, Naruto forced her trembling body to stand up, her cerulean eyes confused. Something wasn't right.

The beautiful green grass was half white.

The frost had contaminated a bit of the grass in her view, and as Naruto slowly walked further, she saw that the entirety of the grass further ahead was white.

"What…"

She shivered again as the freezing temperature penetrated her skin, chilling her thin body. For a brief moment, she walked without looking where she was walking.

Something, _somebody_ touched her.

She stared up in shock, the muscles loosening into jelly as the warmth on her cheek spread to her entire body.

The white haired female stared back at her before a tiny, almost unnoticeable smile appeared. Gently, she removed the hand, and Naruto immediately missed the warmth.

Then she found herself pulled closer.

Her body rested against the other's belly, and Naruto's eyes slowly closed as her exhausted, freezing body drank in the reassuring warmth.

"Stay strong and become powerful, Delphinium-chan. I'll see you again someday." She paused, leaning closer so her mouth was only inches away from Naruto's ear. "You'll recognize me when you see me again. You can call me Yuki."

Naruto's eyes snapped open, wide, as the warmth suddenly turned freezing cold, the girl tumbling into mounds of snow.

She blinked.

Her body… Still wasn't numb, despite the fact that the source of her brief warmness was gone. Bewildered, she touched her cheek, and her eyes widened when she realized that her skin was rosy and healthily warm.

Scrambling for the lake she usually cleaned herself in, knowing it was nearby, she examined her reflection in the (not frozen) water.

Her right cheek, the one Yuki touched, had a beautiful pale blue snowflake on it, white tendrils of sparkling frost spiraling out. It extended down her neck, adorned with smaller snowflakes, and a quick examination of her body told her that it continued down her side, eventually breaking into two paths. One curved away from her belly button, and the other appeared to spread over her back from what she could see of her shoulder when she twisted her body.

It wasn't like a regular tattoo, or a tattoo of symbolism like the ones she saw on the Inuzuka Clan. No, it was more like it was part of her… _In_ her. Almost as though it was vital to her body.

She felt strangely attached. The image seemed to pulsate and glow as she touched them, and she felt warmth shoot through her body.

 _Who was that girl? Yuki?_

* * *

"What were you doing?"

The fourteen year old froze, her heart skipping a beat in shock (not that she would ever admit it) as the male emerged from the shadows. She hadn't detected him.

But then again, that was what Uchiha Itachi did best.

The sixteen year old male looked even paler than usual under the moon's dutiful silver light. Just like her, he wasn't wearing his robe, instead having a simple black T-shirt over mesh armor and standard navy shinobi pants on, a thin simple white belt around his waist. As always, the red ring was on his right ring finger — after all, he couldn't remove it. Nobody but the leader could.

It took only a few seconds for her to get over her initial surprise and reply. "I couldn't sleep."

"Who was that girl?'

She paused briefly, staring into his onyx eyes before looking away. "You would know, wouldn't you?"

Knowing he was at least slightly caught off guard, she continued,

"She's the one your little brother asked you about. You used to look over her as an ANBU, keep people from attacking her." She paused again. "Her life, just like Sasuke's, became a lot worse after what you did."

She had to hand it to him; he still didn't break his cold demeanor. "I have no love for my younger brother. He is weak."

"Ah, Itachi, you forget something. Just because I am snow, doesn't mean my heart is ice."

She crumbled into snow, and Itachi was left staring at the mounds of white.

 _Uzumaki Naruto, huh?_

* * *

 _ **So, clearly, this is a new story. I'm new to the world of Fanfiction... Writing, at least. I've roamed on here for about two years, reading whatever my heart desired, and I've seen simply amazing stories. By amazing, I mean they show incredible ingenuity and skill at the pen. I myself am not a very good writer... Not in my opinion, at least, but I'm hoping like those authors, my writing skill can grow. This prologue of sorts is just to give you an idea of my writing style.**_

 _ **Please spend the time to write a review if you read this; any criticism is appreciated.**_

 _ **Thank you!**_


	2. Icy Delphinium Blue

Umino Iruka didn't even notice as a small hooded figure slipped into his classroom and sat at the very back, instead continuing with his speech/lecture.

However, a few people did notice the girl. Her burnt orange hoodie, hemmed with black and a thinner line of red, hid the majority of her hair, but some of the spiky blond locks fell over the right side of her face. One eye was hidden, but the other eye, the left eye, was not — a sliver of icy, delphinium blue. The three whisker-like marks were visible on either cheek, the three on the right obscured by the hair, and she also wore black, tight but flexible pants.

Uzumaki Naruto was generally avoided by everyone, but a few stayed afar, eyeing her in fascination and/or curiosity.

Nara Shikamaru was the first to do so, having observed the blonde for about a year now. He found the girl different, and not just because she wasn't a fangirl, didn't diet, and tended to avoid crowds. No, something about her was off. Adults glared at her, children avoided her, and foxes loved her. She was intriguing enough to snap him out of his lazy daze.

Inuzuka Kiba later did as well but for two different reasons. One was that his puppy (or, as he adamantly insists, nin-dog), Akamaru, was scared of the female, whining that she smelled like foxes. Kiba couldn't figure out why this particular smell would set his nin-dog off so strongly, but at some point, he became curious. The other reason is that his crush, Hyuuga Hinata, appeared to idolize Naruto. Not that he really understood why.

Aburame Shino noted silently from his own concealing clothing that she was _strong_. The kidaichuu he had sent out of curiosity before had become drunk by her chakra after just one little sip, and it took several doses of Shino's unique chakra to snap them out of that drunk state. She possessed ridiculous amounts of chakra — and extremely _dense_ chakra at that. However, she hid her skills; few knew about her large chakra pool, or the fact her elemental affinity was already extremely strong and stood out amidst her chakra, or the fact that she had a different source of chakra hidden by her hair and clothing.

Finally, Uchiha Sasuke was confused. Even the shy Hinata, one of the only two non-fangirls, had congratulated him and praised him at some point. But she… She! Naruto had never once congratulated him. In fact, she had only looked into his eyes once — before she holed up in that hoodie of hers.

He snapped to attention when Iruka called out his name. Suppressing a shiver at the "GOOD LUCK SASUKE-KUN!" squealed in unison by almost all the females in the room, he moved into the separate testing area, trying to get Naruto off his mind.

* * *

 _I don't believe him, but I am curious about the scroll…_

Naruto sat in the ever-familiar forest, reading the endless contents of the Forbidden Scroll as she waited for Mizuki to show up. Her hitai-ate was loosely tied around her neck — she had passed the exam by using the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu rather than the regular Bunshin. Her hoodie was no longer completely zipped in order for the engraved metal of the hitai-ate to be seen, which was apparently mandatory.

She blinked as she detected a familiar chakra signature that most definitely wasn't Mizuki's. "UZUMAKI NARUTO!" the man bellowed. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING!"

"Hello, Iruka-sensei," she murmured quietly.

"Why did you steal the scroll?! Right after you became a genin, too! You're going to be in huge trouble!"

"Mizuki-sensei told me to," Naruto replied, her eyes no longer roaming over the scroll. She had closed and shut it when she detected Iruka's nearing presence. "He said it was an additional part to pass the genin exam."

Iruka blinked and then paled as understanding dawned. "He—"

"That's right," the cold sneer of Mizuki came. The silver haired male grinned widely from the tree limb he stood on. "Give me the scroll, Naruto."

"Don't give it to him!" Iruka shouted. "He's a traitor — He used you! He just wants the scroll for himself!"

"Ne… Give me the scroll, Naru- _chan_ , and I'll tell you why everyone hates you!"

Iruka turned a ghastly white. "Mizuki, don't! It's forbidden!"

"I don't care, _Iruka_ , I hate her! Naruto, the reason everyone hates you is because you are the _Kyuubi no Yoko!_ "

The clearing was oddly quiet, broken a few seconds later as Naruto stood up, straightening her back. She turned, her one visible eye glaring up at Mizuki.

"I know."

Mizuki's eyes widened, trapped in the icy swirls of blue. "You… Knew?"

"I've known for a long time. Kurama is a part of me."

"You… You're the monster who destroyed Konohagakure! You're the one who killed the Yondaime Hokage — _You're a demon!_ "

"I am not the monster who destroyed Konoha, nor am I the one who killed the Yondaime Hokage." Mizuki froze as the breathy statement touched his air and something sharp rested against his throat. He didn't dare look down to see what it was. Leaning in, the blonde whispered so quietly that Iruka couldn't hear, even as a minor sensor.

"But even if I'm not a demon, I possess the qualities of one."

Something broad, something hard smashed into Mizuki's head, and the silver haired man fell off the tree branch. Naruto landed nimbly next to Mizuki, her face dispassionate.

Iruka stared in shock.

* * *

"What is her situation?"

Sarutobi let out sigh. "She knows that I want her to act for the good of Konoha. She knows that I put Konoha first in importance since she was young. She doesn't explicitly say it, but she hates me and a good majority of this village. She knows you have been nice to her because of my orders—"

"Lie."

"Hm?"

"Originally, I was following your orders. But later, I realized… She was just a lonely girl, not a monster demon. I was nice to her because I followed my heart, not your orders." With that, Iruka bowed shortly and left the room.

Sarutobi let out a sigh, his eyes dimming as he saw the smiling but serious face of his successor and predecessor.

"Minato…"

* * *

Naruto slipped late once again into the room, but this time, Iruka noticed. Nodding and flashing a small smile at her as she sat, he informed the class, "I'll read the teams you have been assigned to now. There is no swapping allowed. The decision was made by our Sandaime Hokage, so please do not complain about it. Alright, let's begin. Team One…"

Naruto zoned out almost immediately, but snapped back to attention a few minutes later as Iruka called,

"Team Seven, led by Hatake Kakashi. Haruno Sakura, Uchiha Sasuke—"

"YES! TAKE THAT, INO-PIG—"

"Hn."

"—and Uzumaki Naruto."

Sakura stopped in her gloating, eyeing the hoodie-wearing girl nervously. Her mother has long told her to stay away from _that girl_ , stating feverishly that the Uzumaki was not somebody she should associate with. But now she was going to be on the same team as that blonde?

Uchiha Sasuke eyed the Uzumaki yet again with as much interest as confusion. The Uzumaki hadn't moved at all in response to Iruka's announcement, whereas everyone would either have disliked or been overjoyed at having him as one of their team members, and Sasuke had been told be numerous shinobi and civilians to stay away from "the dem— Er, girl". He didn't know what made them hate the Uzumaki so much, but he remembered the one time she smiled, the one time she emitted a genuine smile. He had seen it, he had returned it, observed how she had desperately looked at parents congratulating their kids, but ever since then, the girl had seemed exhausted and almost as though as she had no will to live. Then she developed the need to always wear a hoodie, and became a complete enigma.

Iruka rolled up the scroll, finishing up with Team Ten. "Alright. Your cell sensei should be here soon. Good luck!"

With that, Iruka left the room, and conversations, complaints, and happiness broke out everywhere.

Shikamaru let out a gusty sigh. "Hey, Ino, Chouji, I'll be back in a minute."

The other two members of Team Ten glanced at him in confusion that quickly dawned into understanding as the lazy genin stood up and walked in the direction of one Uzumaki Naruto. Chouji trusted Shikamaru to not get into anything serious, but Ino frowned slightly, somewhat worried. Her father had told her before that if she could, befriend Uzumaki Naruto. She hadn't at that time, but it had opened her eyes; although she was still best friends with Sakura, she didn't fawn over Sasuke like she had in her earlier years (no matter how much Sakura thought Ino was her love rival for Sasuke's heart), and focused on her training as part of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio.

But Naruto…

She was always so… _sad_. To a normal outsider, she would be cold and emotionless, but the Yamanaka Clan was much more psychological and emotional. Naruto wasn't cold; she had shut off her emotions from the outside world to protect herself.

* * *

"Hey."

Naruto glanced up, surprised somebody had approached her. She had felt the presence but didn't think it would affect her in any way. She was even more surprised that the one who approached was none other than the lazy genius, the Nara heir, Shikamaru.

"Hello. How can I help you?"

"I just want to talk to you," he replied, pulling a chair up and straddling it. Resting his arms on the back of the chair, he eyed Naruto. "You're Uzumaki Naruto, right?"

The girl nodded slowly.

"Hmm," he murmured, eyeing her curiously. "How would you like to train with me sometime, Uzumaki-san?"

He watched her one visible eye, analyzing her reaction. A tangled mess of surprise and — as he suspected — suspicion arose in her face.

"Why?"

"Because I want to get to know you," he offered. It seemed like an appropriate answer, because she nodded,

"Okay."

"I'll speak to you again to set up a time," Shikamaru stated as he stood up. "My sensei's almost here. Take care."

Naruto nodded again, watching as Shikamaru walked back to his team. True to his word, seconds later, a man wearing a Konoha hitai-ate — she wrinkled her nose for a second as the smell of smoke hit her — walked in and called, "Team Ten!"

The classroom slowly emptied until only Team Seven was left. After half an hour or so of waiting, Sakura moved her chair next to Sasuke's desk, eyeing Naruto nervously.

"Ne, Sasuke-kun," she whispered softly, "do you know anything about our teammate?"

Sasuke generally refused to associate with his fangirls, but Sakura seemed to have momentarily casted that aside, so he replied, taking care to lower his voice so Naruto wouldn't hear, "Not really. I know that she's an orphan and that the adults hate her for some reason, but that's pretty much it."

Naruto's eyes closed. Sasuke was surprisingly considerate enough to lower his voice, but she could still hear him. Hosting the Kyuubi gave her enhanced senses, so she could clearly decipher every word Sasuke and Sakura exchanged.

The adults do hate her, for a reason she couldn't control. For that she despised the Yondaime Hokage. Not just for placing the Kyuubi in her, because Kurama actually wasn't that bad the more she got to know it, but because he was stupid enough to entrust her to the Sandaime and the council.

 _ **Not that bad? I'd like to see you find another dashingly handsome demon fox and get him to make friends with a little brat.**_

 _Shuddap, Kurama._

Pulled into her mindscape, she stared down at the familiar image of the demon. In exchange for letting him out of the cage, his chakra remained in it, a red sea of uncontrolled energy. The demon, made almost entirely of chakra, was reduced to a chibi fox that she could summon into reality.

His voice, however, didn't change — low and gravely. **I see you made friends with that Nara heir.**

"He's not a friend," she replied.

 **But you're letting him associate with you as a comrade. He's the first person you're letting get close to you. I say you made friends with him.**

"Your thousand years of living has made you too expectant," Naruto deadpanned.

The demon rolled his eyes before jumping onto her shoulder, his nine tiny tails brushing her neck.

"Have you remembered anything about Yuki?"

 **I was trying to take a nap when she inserted her chakra into you,** the demon replied, gesturing at the white tendrils that laced the bars of his cage. **So I don't remember anything from until her chakra touched mine. But her name… Yuki, may actually be her surname. There's a clan from Kirigakure called the Yuki Clan. They were one of the victims of the Kekkei Genkai extermination.**

"So you think she can be a survivor?"

 **It's very likely,** Kurama replied. **She hasn't harmed you in any way. The chakra she inserted into you touched my chakra and calmed that chakra, allowing you to utilize it much easily. Her chakra also weakened the seal's keyhole, which let you open it despite not actually having the key. Her chakra also gave you an immunity to cold, which led you to make the forest your home. But that's pretty much all that's been shown about her chakra. I'm sure there's more to it.**

"I have a question, actually. The chakra she put into me is separate from her own chakra pool now, right? So how is she generating chakra for the part in me?"

 **She's not. She's a Yuki — it appears she found a way to "freeze" her chakra. Her chakra is in a dormant form whenever you're not utilizing it, and it "thaws" whenever you need to use it. So basically, the chakra's not constantly active. I have a sneaking suspicion that once it's low, though, it'll be leeching off** _ **my**_ **chakra…**

Naruto let out a genuine smile. Kurama was always touchy about others utilizing his chakra — even when it was Naruto using it.

"I think our sensei's finally approaching. See ya, Kurama."

The fox quirked a smile, showing off his fangs, as he leapt off her shoulder.

 _In five, four, three, two…_

The door opened and a tall, lanky man walked in, prompting all three of Team Seven to stare at him.

Sakura and Sasuke found him plain weird — he wore a facemask that covered his nose and lower face, and his hitai-ate was yanked down to cover his left eye. His right eye was droopy and uninterested, staring at a little orange- covered book he had in his hand. Couple that with his wild, droopy gray hair and the fact the cover of the book had the words _Icha Icha Paradise_ on it, he really didn't look like an elite jounin, but more like a perverted old man.

Naruto found him… Deceiving. Behind his perverted lazy man image — which she didn't deny he actually was — he was alert and expectant. She could tell that his muscles, though relaxed, could tense in a millisecond at the slightest notice, and though he was sleepily reading a porn novel, he could also snap that book shut and snap an enemy's neck in one swift motion.

Sakura decided to break the silence. "Where were you?! You're over two hours late!"

The man looked up from his book as though just noticing them. "Maa, maa… Team Seven, to the roof." He poofed into smoke, and a vein pulsed angrily on Sakura's temple.

Both she and Sasuke turned around when they sensed movement. Naruto had stood up, and, smashing the window, she jumped out of it and — promptly _ran up_ the wall.

"How the hell is she scaling that vertical scape?" Sakura gasped. Naruto was soon out of sight, and Sasuke, not sparing another glance at her, ran out the door for the stairs.

Sakura stared blankly at the practically unhinged door in the empty classroom before realization struck.

"Wait! Sasuke-kun!"

* * *

Kakashi put his book away as he sensed chakra presences approaching. Naruto reached the roof first, vaulting over the railing. Kakashi mentally raised an eyebrow — it looked like she had scaled the roof, and he could sense lingering amounts of chakra on the walls, but how did she know that tree-walking exercise?

Sasuke was second, slamming open the rooftop door. Glaring at Naruto for beating him to the roof, he didn't look worse for wear, though his breathing was more hitched than usual due to the four floors he scaled two steps at a time without stopping.

Kakashi had to wait for another minute before the door opened again. Sakura stumbled in, panting with exertion and borderline exhaustion. Kakashi was mentally sighing in exasperation by now. His motive for moving the conversation to the roof was to see how quickly his cell reacted. Naruto had shown the most strength in this, not hesitating to smash the window whereas someone like Sakura would have definitely hesitated. Sasuke wasn't bad, quite good in fact, but Kakashi was surprised that he didn't just use the ninja wire Uchiha often used in sync with their Katon techniques. Sakura was clearly the one who needed the most work. Judging by her previously perfect locks and ironed dress, she had been pampered by her mother, who was on the civilian council. She wouldn't be able to cope with the physical demands of a shinobi unless she changed.

Putting his observations aside for the moment, he focused on the three twelve year olds that were now staring at him — one curious, one expectant, and one dispassionate.

"Alright… Let's start with introductions. Pinky, you're first."

Sakura twitched at the nickname. "Can you give us an example, sensei?"

He raised an eyebrow before he closed his eyes briefly. "Alright, then. My name's Hatake Kakashi. I have a lot of likes and dislikes… My dream for the future… Hm… I also have a lot of hobbies, too many to name…"

Sakura sweatdropped. _All we got was his name…_

"Well, Pinky?"

"Uh, my name's Haruno Sakura. I like…" She paused, glancing to the right of her at a now slightly uncomfortable Uchiha. "Umm! I… Um… I dislike all my rivals for…" She blushed. "Uh… My hobby… Um… My dream for the future… _Eeek!_ "

Her face flushed red, and Kakashi mildly had the impression of an erupting volcano. Sasuke had a look of disgust twisted into his facial features — which was rather impressive considering how serious and calculating he always seemed to be — as he edged away from Sakura. Naruto was thoughtful enough to move away as well, giving Sasuke more room.

"Alright — Well, Emo, you're next."

Sasuke glared at Kakashi. He wasn't emo, dammit, he just thought about things a lot more than others! "My name's Uchiha Sasuke. I like few things, and I dislike many things. My hobby is training. My dream for the fu… No, my _ambition_ … is to restore my clan, and kill _that man_."

Sakura glanced at him in awe, but unknown to Sasuke, both Kakashi and Naruto had frowned. Kakashi because the male seemed hell bent on revenge, and Naruto because Sasuke's heart screamed something his mind refused to accept.

"Well then, Hoodie, you're next."

"My name's Uzumaki Naruto. I like the person and the being in the world most precious to me. I dislike almost all of this village. My hobby is training and writing. My dream for the future is to find Yuki."

All three glanced at her, momentarily confused. She wanted to find Yuki? She wanted to find snow?

Kakashi mentally shrugged; it was time for him to scare his kawai students a little. Mentally, he cackled evilly, which only grew when he saw Sakura shiver at the sudden feeling of doom.

* * *

 ** _Before I say anything, I don't own Naruto. I think I forgot to say that before._**

 ** _At some point I wrote this story and all I recall was that I was irked about how almost every single anime out there had the main character as a male. I'm not sure why I was irked about it, although it might have been all the Sakura bashing stories I read. But anyway, my old self chose to make Naruto a female character, so I'll continue along that path of thought._**

 ** _This story focuses on making Naruto care more about the outside world, the world that wasn't Konohagakure. From what I remember of Naruto, the main character loved Konoha and aspired to do everything for Konoha because before Team Seven, his only true bond was with the Sandaime Hokage. By severing that bond and replacing it with a character not associated with Konoha, everything about Naruto would be different._**

 ** _The girl, Yuki, will become more important later on. I think you can guess her Kekkei Genkai and generally who she is by now, but I do have plans for her. Itachi has long been and still is my favorite character in Naruto; I can't write a Naruto story without Itachi._**

 ** _Chapter One's complete. Even if the prologue didn't give you many ideas, this chapter should have given you some about the way I write. The chapters should steadily get longer, so if you feel this was inadequately long, don't worry._**

 ** _Again, criticism (reviews) will be much appreciated._**

 ** _Ja ne!_**


	3. Guess We're a Team

Hatake Kakashi walked alongside the path, his nose in _Icha Icha Paradise_ again but not really paying attention to it.

He had been assigned the team he had been assigned for special reasons. One was that he was to especially train Uchiha Sasuke himself, as he was the only other person in the village with a Sharingan. Another was because of Uzumaki Naruto.

As part of the ANBU squad that had been fighting the Kyuubi, stalling it long enough for the Yondaime to perform the sealing, he knew about Naruto's jinchuuriki status before anyone else, even the Sandaime Hokage. However, unlike everyone who knew about her tenant, he was the only one who focused on her heritage.

The Sandaime Hokage had completely ignored the fact she was the biological daughter of the Yondaime Hokage, instead focusing on the demon she held and the strength it would give her, the strength it would give the village. Kakashi cared more about her parents. The Yondaime was his sensei, giving him fatherly love after he closed his heart when his father committed suicide. He even changed his ninja ways and convinced him that his father was a hero in his own right. He was the one who never gave up on his heart even after he secluded himself _again_ when Rin died. The Yondaime's wife was the one he watched over for the better part of a year as she was in her vulnerable state of pregnancy. She had made him little bentos with ocean designs — something quite popular in her hometown of Uzushiogakure — and had grabbed his hands, the same hands that had been stained with blood, and placed them on her belly, allowing him to feel the slight kicking of a life that had been born in her womb.

Both of them had been precious to him.

And their daughter was their legacy. Sarutobi had rudely taken that legacy and tore it up, showing no form of respect to his deceased sensei.

He would administer the bell test tomorrow, but he knew that regardless, he would be forced to pass that team because of the Uchiha. He was hoping that he could make them see his way of the ninja. He was hoping Sakura would care for Naruto as much as Sasuke, that Sasuke would protect his teammates, and that Naruto would _feel_ again.

He wasn't sure if he could do it, but he had to try.

"Kakashi- _kun_ , what is that you're reading?"

He looked away from his book and paled greatly as her tongue licked the kunai blade. Mitarashi Anko stood in front of him, a sadistic smile playing on her lips.

"That isn't _porn_ , is it?"

 _Shiiiiiiit!_

* * *

Naruto breathed in the forest scent of wood and water. It was the smell of her home, and it was a smell that stirred her gut. This was where she belonged, with the nature and the animals.

Speaking of animals, the woodland creatures were already appearing, roles of predator and prey momentarily casted away to once again greet the one human they trusted.

The three fox kits darted ahead of their parents, all three whining as they pawed at Naruto's leg. The female leaned down, allowing them to run up her arm. One perched on each of her shoulders, and the other one was in her arms.

"Hello, kits," she whispered softly. All three nuzzled her simultaneously, the tickling feeling forcing a smile out of her. In her, Kyuubi smiled as well — here was the proof she wasn't made of ice.

A mix of a whine and bark from below her drew her attention. The female fox stared at her, and Naruto nodded.

"Yes, of course. I'll make sure they're kept safe. There's no need to worry, Ari-sama."

The mother nodded before leaving, no doubt searching for food to hunt. The birds that were in the clearing right now are all friends with their usual predators, so by unspoken laws, they weren't to be hunted.

Lowering the kit in her arms and nudging the other two to get off, she raised her shoulder a bit, her fingers brushing at the fang-like scar that Kyuubi had given her. It was more of a chakra burn scar than an actual physical scar, because Kyuubi had made it from inside her by forcing his own chakra out.

Chakra gathering around her fingers, she slammed it on the ground. In a swirl of red chakra, chibi fox Kurama appeared, immediately tackling the kits. For all of his demon ways, he was still rather enthusiastic about playing with fox kits.

Naruto quietly slipped away, letting Kurama have his fun time.

She walked along the familiar forest paths that no human's eyes but hers would see. Letting out a sigh, she stared up at the blue sky, marred by branches and leaves.

She wished so badly that her life would change in a positive way. Becoming an official ninja of Konohagakure may be a new stage in her life (and not an especially wanted one; she didn't really care if she was a shinobi or not), but she wanted something more. Like… Having Yuki visit her.

 _Dammit, Naruto, patience. You know she'll show herself eventually. She's not doing so now for a reason._

She had expected to be placed in a team with Uchiha Sasuke, and she had expected her sensei to be Hatake Kakashi. Kyuubi had explained (read: spat venomously) that the Uchiha had cursed eyes — their Kekkei Genkai, the Sharingan, could evolve to a capability of controlling bijuu. Kurama stated that it itself had been controlled by the Sharingan — the night it attacked Konoha.

If Sarutobi was still after her as a weapon, then he would no doubt assign the last two people with the Sharingan — or the capability to get one — to her.

Haruno Sakura, though… She wasn't sure why the pink headed wannabe kunoichi was on her team. She had expected one of the clan heirs thought to have the capability to restrain her in the future, but then again, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio had to stay together, and Hinata, Kiba, and Aburame made a great tracking team.

Brushing her spiky locks out of the way, she touched the largest snowflake, the familiar warmth rushing through her.

* * *

Naruto always woke up early. The sun was barely peeking out of the horizon when she awoke the next day, and the blonde stretched briefly before heading to grab something to eat. Just like the predatory animals, she didn't eat the meat of the prey that knew her. Instead, she used ninja wire to hook up a row of fish from the river.

She had no clue what kind of fish they were, but she did know it was pretty yummy. Cleaning the fish and gutting it, she strung each of them on the ninja wire above the fire.

A low whine caught her attention, and she knelt down. One of the three fox kits had already woken up, and he deposited a small salt crystal from his jaws onto her palm. Smiling, she rubbed the top of his head before applying salt to the fish, intensifying the aroma.

When it was done, she slipped one of the fish off the wire for the fox kit. She wasn't sure if foxes were supposed to eat fish, but the fox kit tore into it with enthusiasm, so it was probably okay.

Giving it one last pat in farewell, she quickly left, munching on the other two fish as she walked. She took her sweet time walking to the Team Seven training grounds before climbing up the tree behind the three posts, reclining on the limb and finishing up her breakfast.

A few hours later, Sasuke arrived. A minute after that, Sakura.

A few hours after _that_ , during which Sakura looked ready to kill, their sensei appeared.

"Sorry, sorry, I was interrupted by a little birdie who needed help rebuilding its nest. So I helped it, and then realized my clothes were dirty, so I went back for a change. When I came here, a black cat crossed my path, so I hurried for the temple to rid myself of the bad luck…"

"Oh, shut up!" Sakura shouted.

His eye crinkled into a smile before he opened the large bag he hauled. Pulling out a shiny red alarm clock, he placed it on the middle post.

"The clock's set for noon. You have three hours to try and pass the test, which is…" He held up his hand, and clenched between his knuckles were two strings, each with a bell on it. "To retrieve these bells from me." He tied the bells to his pants. "Any questions?"

"Sensei! There's only two bells!"

"One of you will definitely fail," he replied with an eerie smile. "Alright, ready? Go!"

All three bolted, and Kakashi casually wandered into the middle of the clearing. "Good, good, you all know the basics." _Even if they could hide better. What shinobi would fit themselves under a tiny bush? They'll be dead in any ambush. Let's see… That's where Sakura is, and Sasuke's on a tree limb — better, but keeping those leaves over him would hinder his movement. And Naruto…_

He blinked.

 _Naruto's… Everywhere?_

Her chakra had been spread everywhere, even next to him. He couldn't pinpoint her location, and it disturbed him. Greatly. It was as though as she had managed to send her chakra out as a beacon, spreading it evenly around her. It concealed her presence quite well.

He had to admit, she was skilled. At least, skilled for her age. It was clear that Sandaime's attempts to both strengthen and limit her were useless — Kakashi knew that important lessons to protect one's body, often learned through experience, were deliberately not taught to her by the academy teachers, as encouraged by Sarutobi. However, it didn't seem to have bothered her, as she had learned them on her own anyway.

He reached into his pouch and fetched _Icha Icha Paradise_ , quietly smirking as he felt the two genin he could detect twitch in anger.

* * *

Sasuke fumed from his position. Sakura had fainted after seeing a genjutsu — Kakashi had said so as he rubbed into his face that he was the second to fall — and he didn't know where Naruto was.

It was getting annoying being buried up to his head.

He blinked in surprise as a shadow fell over him, and he looked up into the cold blue eye of Uzumaki Naruto.

The hoodied girl didn't say anything, but raised an eyebrow. Sasuke, realizing it wasn't a mocking gesture but rather an inquiring one, nodded.

He expected her to pull him out or something.

Not to whip out two fans.

Confused, he watched as she angled the fans, and then —

Two blades of energy cut through the ground on either side of him. The hairs on his arms stood on end; it had barely missed his body underground.

The ground crumbled.

Shifting, Sasuke managed to pull one arm out. Then the other. Then he managed to hoist himself up, brushing off dirt and debris from his clothes.

The fans were already gone, presumably up her sleeves. Sasuke glanced awkwardly at her before looking away, feeling his face flush. Uchiha do _not_ blush!

"Thanks, I guess," Sasuke muttered. He was about to leap away again when Naruto muttered,

"Wait."

"Hn?"

"Have you realized what the point of this exercise is?"

Sasuke gave her a weird look. The point of the exercise was to get those bells and show their skills, right? What other stupid point was there?

"It's teamwork."

His eyes widened.

"Work with me, Uchiha."

He felt a shiver run up his spine at those words, not that he would ever admit it. It was so… Cold. Her eyes were so deadly, like blades of ice.

 _Damn!_

* * *

Hatake Kakashi did something he didn't expect to do during a genin test.

He was on guard.

The area had become eerily quiet. Naruto had done something — mixed in with her dense chakra was Sasuke's. Sasuke didn't have that much chakra. It was large, especially just for a genin, but he had nowhere as much as Naruto, so it didn't make sense that his was spread everywhere like Naruto's. To top it all off, Sasuke was definitely free from his earlier predicament. He wasn't so sure that with Sasuke's anger-fueled flames and Naruto's deceiving mind that he'll be perfectly fine afterwards.

Kakashi got a second's warning before he had to whip a kunai into each hand, twirling to knock every kunai and shuriken thrown at him out of the way. He was successful for some time, but seconds later, his eyes suddenly widened.

A shuriken had nicked the side of his mask.

 _Ninja wires!_

This was, no doubt, Sasuke's work; Sakura didn't have that skill, and Naruto didn't seem to be the type who worked on shuriken techniques. Kakashi hastily jumped out of the way of the controlled projectiles, knocking a few more shuriken out of the way. It wasn't safe for him to be in that area, especially when he had only one eye to view every direction. Dammit, he really had become too reliant on his Sharingan if he had trouble with a genin's shuriken skills, no matter how much that genin is called a prodigy!

Ditching the kunais, he ran for it, hopping through the trees. Shamelessly, he admitted that he didn't want to be in that lane of fire — his pride be damned.

Escaping was a mistake.

He barely stopped in time to avoid getting split vertically in half. The blade of energy continued out of sight, leaving a huge crevice along the ground.

To his left was one Uzumaki Naruto, a fan clutched in each hand. Her emotionless blue eye stared at him before she brought the other fan around. He darted out of the way, the blade of chakra splitting the oak in half.

 _What the hell! That's fairly advanced elemental manipulation — Even is she's Kazi-natured!_

He turned as he felt something enter his personal space.

A shuriken missed him by millimeters, and he paused in confusion — something wasn't right…

He understood as a gust sent the bells flying towards Naruto.

He lunged, intending to get them back, but Naruto caught them, and with a small smirk, poofed into smoke.

A Kage Bunshin.

 _A Kage Bunshin._

A _**Kage** _Bunshin.

What the hell?!

* * *

Sasuke watched as the two small pebbles in the hands of the real Naruto next to him were replaced with the bells. A second later, she was on the move, Sasuke following her.

They had about ten minutes left, so they had to keep the bells safe in that time.

Sasuke quietly observed the back of the girl in front of him. He had to admit that she was skilled, not at all like what her average grades suggested. She had managed to tug out his chakra as he pushed it out of him and multiply it with her own, spreading his chakra mixed with hers everywhere.

Then to top it all off, she knew the Kage Bunshin no Jutsu, which was definitely not an academy or even a chuunin level technique, knew how to manipulate elemental chakra like him, and had a pretty darn strategic mind.

For the first time since the massacre, something in his heart fluttered.

* * *

"Why am I the one tied up!"

Kakashi let out an exasperated sigh as the pink-haired kunoichi kicked fruitlessly and unhappily. "Because you didn't do anything except faint in this test!"

That shut her up.

"Naruto, Sasuke, you two found out the meaning of the test — and accomplished the test at the same time. Do you care to tell your third teammate?"

Sasuke spoke in a low voice, "It was teamwork. When Naruto and I worked together, we managed to get the bells." As confirmation, he held up one bell. "Naruto has the other one."

"I'm aware that Naruto and Sasuke didn't inform you about their plans, but you were out of the world at that time." His voice harsh, he lectured, "You searched for your Sasuke-kun while ignoring all the basic rules of a shinobi. You're a disgrace to the name of a kunoichi."

Sakura hung her head in shame, tears prickling at the corners of her eyes.

"Naruto, Sasuke, you two pass, but Sakura, I don't know about you. You're all dismissed. I have to report to the Hokage."

He disappeared in a poof of smoke, and Naruto and Sasuke both stood up and made to walk away, before Sasuke paused and glanced pointedly at Naruto. The blonde let out a small sigh before whipping out — is that a fan? — and flicked her wrist. The ropes were cut cleanly in half.

Sakura fell to the ground on her knees, staring at the two.

"Dango, Naruto? My treat."

"Sure," she replied softly.

The tears grew.

Sasuke glanced back at her, and she looked at him hopefully. He didn't return it, though, as he turned back around and walked away.

She caught his final words to Naruto before they were out of earshot.

"Guess we're a team."

She wanted to cry.

* * *

Sasuke didn't just say what he did to shake Sakura off, although he admitted it was a rather good bonus. Maybe that girl would finally act like an actual kunoichi.

He did take Naruto to a dango stand. It was a small stand, ran by an old, former shinobi couple, away from the bustle and hustle that was Konoha's main routes. He liked the small stand more than any other large restaurant out there — the calmer environment in which not everyone was kissing his shoes.

Sensing that Naruto had no clue what dango were or how they tasted, he ordered for her.

"Hello, Old Man Auchi. Can I get two plates of traditional kushi dango, each with four skewers, please? And less sugar in one of the plates."

"Of course! You and the pretty lady just wait a moment, and I'll have it all ready for you." Auchi was a kind, plump man with twinkling eyes and a face that smiled easily. Ever since his retirement, he had been working in his own dango stand. And Sasuke, who was picky about his dango, found the old man's secret recipe the best.

For a moment, Sasuke glanced at Naruto awkwardly. He did want to know more about the girl who had piqued his interest, but he now felt like he had nothing to say.

"So… You've never tried dango, right?"

Naruto shook her head slowly. "You ordered for me. Is it good?"

"Kushi dango is probably the most common type of dango out there. It'll give you an idea of dango's texture. The flavoring, of course, changes with different types of dango. I'm generally not a fan of sweet things, but with a little less sugar, I find dango a pretty good food."

Naruto nodded again. "I see."

The awkward feeling dawned again, and Sasuke offered, "What's your favorite food?"

"I usually eat anything I can get from the forest," Naruto replied. "Occasionally, I eat at Ichiraku's."

Sasuke tried to recall the small stand his mother had enjoyed eating once or twice every two weeks, "Ichiraku's Ramen?"

"Yes."

"I've never tried that stand, since I've never found myself especially liking ramen."

"You should go sometime," Naruto stated softly. "Ichiraku's Ramen is different from all other ramen."

"I'll try it sometime," Sasuke replied. Leaning his elbows on the counter, he asked, "Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"I taught myself," Naruto replied.

"Where did you get those fans? They're not sold in a standard shinobi shop."

"Oh… That? I went to Higurashi's Weapons. It's ran by a shinobi couple, not by the civilians, so the weapons are of good quality. Higurashi-san is a fair man and sells me weapons and other things at a good price. I brought my clothes there as well." Naruto paused. "I had designed the fans myself in the span of about six months and gave the designs to Higurashi-san. He adjusted any fan dimensions that made no sense after talking it over with me and made the fans for me in another month."

"Can I see the fans? I didn't get a good look earlier."

Naruto hesitated, but she slid the two fans out and handed them tentatively to Sasuke. The Uchiha grasped them gently, which surprised even himself. He snapped them open after a brief moment's struggle of handling the unfamiliar objects.

The fans were beautifully created. The guards were solid metal, and the silver, light material felt familiar to him — it was chakra conductive, like that tanto he had found in his father's room.

The head and rivet weren't anything special, though clearly expertly created, but the sticks, made of wood, seemed irregularly strong. At his inquiring gaze, Naruto explained,

"It's made from the tree chakra paper is made from. The wood's irregularly strong; it's practically indestructible by normal means, and it's chakra conductive as well."

"Chakra paper?"

"It's a special kind of paper that shows your elemental affinity," Naruto explained. "Haven't you already used one before you learned a Katon technique?"

"No, my father never gave me one," Sasuke replied, frowning slightly at the oddity before returning to his observation of the two fans. The slips of the fan were made of a fabric he was familiar with — it was tough and could easily stop kunai and shuriken from ripping through it. The leaves of the fan were in a perfect circle, like most fans.

The design on the fan was clearly oriented around foxes. One had two ink black foxes, and the other had three small fox kits. When he put the fans together, the black edges that originally appeared to be nothing but a touch of unity in the design came together to form a set of fangs.

"Is there any special reason for the designs?"

"Foxes are my favorite animal," Naruto replied, "and they're seals. They let my chakra run through the slips of the fan as well. The entirety of the fans are chakra conductive." She had her hands out by now, asking silently for the fans to be returned.

Sasuke placed the clearly expertly designed fans in her palms, and they were gone a second later.

He was at a loss for conversation again, but luckily, Auchi solved that for him. With a cheery smile and "Enjoy!", the two plates were placed in front of them, the less sugar one in front of Sasuke. Sasuke didn't hesitate before biting into one; he was already hungry.

Naruto, though, did. Hesitantly picking up the skewer, she watched as a bit of sauce dripped off the dumplings onto the other three skewers.

"Go ahead," Sasuke told her, chewing.

She bit off the first one, chewing it tentatively at first. Her eyes widened slightly before she bit off another.

Sasuke mentally chuckled. She liked them.

* * *

Shikamaru let out a sigh as he released Asuma from his shadow. How troublesome — it was clear Asuma didn't use at least 95% of his skills on them anyway. He didn't see why Ino was screeching like there was no tomorrow next to him.

"Alright, Team Ten. You're dismissed for today; I have to go report to the Hokage." In a poof of smoke, Sarutobi Asuma was gone.

"I'm going to go home. My father said we'll have a celebratory dinner if I pass." Ino grinned widely. "See ya!"

Chouji smiled at Shikamaru as Ino ran off. "It's the same for my clan. I'll see you tomorrow, Shikamaru."

Shikamaru made an odd nodding-turning gesture — he was too lazy to even nod properly. Chouji chuckled before he walked off, waving merrily.

Shikamaru let out a sigh as he headed for the roads. His own family had a celebratory dinner waiting for him, but it was only about two in the afternoon. There was no need to go rushing home.

He paused when he saw an odd but interesting sight.

Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto, eating dango in Auchi's Skewers.

"Hey, guys."

Sasuke turned in slight surprise and Naruto without any visible emotion.

"Why're you here?" Sasuke questioned. Surprisingly, it wasn't with his usual arrogance or rudeness, but more genuine confusion. Auchi's Skewers wasn't well known, after all, no matter how good their dango was.

"Hello, Nara-san," Naruto greeted.

"Hey. I hope I'm not interrupting anything. That would be a hassle to deal with." Naruto shook her head and tilted her head at the stool next to her, which Shikamaru gratefully perched on. After all, sitting was much more comfortable than standing.

"Why are you here, Nara-san?"

"I wanted to arrange the time for a training session," Shikamaru replied. "Our team passed. Yours?"

"We passed, but Kakashi doesn't know about Sakura yet," Sasuke replied.

"How troublesome — Was she useless?"

"Yes," both members of Team Seven replied shortly.

Shikamaru let out a sigh. "I figured as much… Well, Asuma-sensei told Team Ten that weekends are free for us unless notified beforehand, which isn't going to happen this week since tomorrow's Saturday. Do you have time to come to the Nara compound then, Uzumaki-san?"

Naruto's mind raged — tomorrow, she was planning to spend the day at the library. It was one of the few places nobody shunned her, since she was always in the fuuinjutsu section, which was always deserted. However, the Nara compound should be the same way — Shikamaru clearly seemed nice enough.

"Yes, I can. What time should I head over?"

"Anytime after noon. You can eat lunch with us and then we can train. If you want, you can even have dinner with us; my family won't mind." It was true — Shikamaru had already spoken to his father and mother. Neither minded the Uzumaki coming over, although his mother did fuss about cleaning the house (how troublesome). In fact, they even encouraged him to make friends with her.

Naruto hesitated. She wasn't sure if she could trust the Nara's family, but for now, she would. Shikamaru seemed willing to make friends and had genuine feelings, not a masked one like that chuunin who had made her pass out from loss of blood when she was younger.

"That's too kind of your family. I'll go to the Nara compounds at noon tomorrow."

"Okay. I'll be waiting at the front gates to lead you in; the compound's pretty big and easy to get lost in if you don't know it, especially since half of it is a forest." Shikamaru yawned before standing up. "Well, see you tomorrow, Uzumaki-san."

Naruto nodded. "Thank you, Nara-san."

Sasuke watched silently as the Nara walked away, hands in his pockets and his posture slouched, before turning to look at Naruto questioningly. "What was that about?"

"Nara-san invited me to train with him sometime," Naruto replied, picking up her last skewer.

Sasuke frowned, unnoticed by Naruto, as a rush of something filled his body. What was it — annoyance? Determination? No…

He couldn't quite place his finger on it.

Kyuubi, from within Naruto, snickered quietly to himself. **Protective, huh?** he mused. **Well, this'll be interesting to watch. But still, it's the** _ **Uchiha**_ **boy…**

"Thank you for treating me to dango, Uchiha-san," Naruto murmured.

"Sasuke's fine. And it was nothing. I've got more money than I know to do with, and I wanted to get to know you a little better."

Naruto nodded briefly before slipping off the stool. "I need to go now. Bye, Sasuke-san."

The Uchiha nodded and tipped a wave at the blonde, who was gone a second later, leaving a little bit of dust in her wake.

Uchiha Sasuke did something he had never done before. He gripped his hair tightly with his fists, clenching his teeth, displaying a rare moment of frustration.

 _Why_ was he so curious about that girl?!

* * *

He had never seen the girl as enraged as she was now.

It was enough to make him, Uchiha Itachi, nervous.

He ducked, his ponytail nearly pinned to the tree behind him by a snowflake; a razor sharp snowflake made of ice that she conjured as fast as she threw them.

Being lighter and tuned to her chakra, it was much quicker and deadlier than the shuriken that he himself specialized in. Itachi darted to the side, another snowflake (would it be called an iceflake?) spiraling past him.

"Calm down. I have nothing to do with this."

"DON'T YOU EVER TELL ME TO CALM DOWN!"

This time, the snowflake nicked his arm, tearing the black fabric of his robe. It didn't cut into his skin, though, which was fortunate. He had to be more careful; since the ice was created with her chakra, once it got into him, it would begin slowly freezing his chakra pathways. It was fortunate that she was only able to keep this up because of her anger; if she could do it on a regular basis, then even he would have to be cautious around her.

" _YOU HAVE EVERYTHING TO DO WITH THIS!_ "

It was truly a rare sight to see her so furious. She hadn't shown any sign of it when the leader warned her, lectured her, and sent her flying, but now that the only trio of their organization was away from the rest of the organization, she had freely let her rage rip.

Kisame had already fallen unconscious. Samehada's chakra absorption should logically destroy her ice, but her ice was stronger, and Kisame's only other form of attacking was through Suiton techniques — And, well, water doesn't really stand up to a freezing machine. Itachi doubted he was dead, or even remotely close to it, but he wasn't waking up on his own until she calmed down and the chakra in Kisame calmed down as well.

"I'm telling you, I didn't tell Leader-sama. It's not my fault that you were punished."

She froze, two snowflakes in her hands, before she growled out, "If it wasn't you, who the hell was it?"

"I don't know, but it wasn't me. Now will you stop trying to kill me?"

Her fists clenched, and Itachi saw out of the corner of his eye the snowflakes he had dodged break into shards of ice. Glancing at her warily, Itachi moved to the side and kicked Kisame awake, who surprisingly didn't protest at the rude awakening — although the fact he was staring at their female teammate might have been the reason.

"Why do you care so much about that girl?" Itachi dared to ask. She had calmed down enough that she wouldn't try to kill him at a simple question.

"It was her eyes."

Itachi's eyes widened slightly.

"They were just like mine. Lonely and dead. I might have caused her to close off her emotions, but I intended for her to do that so she could survive." Her pale blue eyes glittered with something Itachi couldn't quite figure out. "You and I both grew up too fast. But we did so uncontrollably. With my touch, she won't grow up the same way. She has feelings, she has emotions, and she can unlock them because of what I did."

Her eyes were now watery. Itachi was slightly confused —

"As I live the way I do, I might as well help somebody who's the incarnation of my past."

Something transparent and wet slipped down her cheek, and Itachi suddenly understood.

For the first time in the two years he had worked with her…

She was crying.

* * *

 _ **I've said before I read a lot of Sakura bashing stories, mostly because she's an interesting character. She can easily be written as the main character, and while I think Kishimoto-san skimmed over her development a bit too fast, when put into text, it's a lot slower and much more noticeable. Some people outright bash Sakura, stating bluntly she's a useless kunoichi, which I both agree and disagree with. In Team Seven, she was definitely useless for a good part of the anime. As one of the more important characters, however, she wasn't completely useless. She wasn't as strong as her teammates in the beginning, yes, but it was she that influenced Naruto to try so hard to bring Sasuke back. Sometime along the way it might've warped into something else, but at first, that was what happened and Sakura's influence played a major part in the anime.**_

 _ **I haven't decided what I would do about Sakura. This story isn't something I just created; I took a story I wrote a long time ago (you have no idea how horrible it was) and rewrote it. The basic foundation was determined by my past self, such as a female Naruto, the outline of Yuki, and the strained, almost nonexistent relationship between Sarutobi Hiruzen and Uzumaki Naruto. However, my past self bashed Sakura fiercely. I might continue on that path, or I might do something else. Like I said, I haven't decided.**_

 _ **I'm going to be busy with schoolwork soon, but I'll update whenever I can. I spend almost all of my free time writing or doodling, anyway.**_

 _ **Review, please!**_


	4. The Clan of Shadows

Naruto woke up early, as always, but this time, she didn't linger in the forest. Instead, she walked along the empty roads of Konohagakure, taking in the morning sun.

She had woken up later than usual; the sun was already almost fully up. However, it was still early enough that the roads were pretty much abandoned. Few shinobi shops were open, no civilian shops were open, and the ones awake were likely still in their home, yawning.

"Hello, Naruto."

Startled but not willing to show it, Naruto had to take a few seconds to compose herself before turning around. "Hello, Kakashi-sensei."

Her sensei smiled that odd eye-smile at her. "You're up early."

"Early enough to see that you're not reading porn." Naruto nodded at the lack of the little book in his hands, and Kakashi chuckled.

"Well, I've been busy. Haven't had much time to enjoy the book."

Naruto stared at him, and Kakashi answered the unspoken question,

"I spoke to Sandaime-sama. He said he'll see what he can do about Sakura. You and Sasuke are clearly ahead of her. I can't spend too much time focusing on her and trying to get her to catch up or I'd be neglecting you and Sasuke. At the same time, if I spend enough time for you and Sasuke to advance, however slightly, she'll never catch up. It's a harsh truth but it's just that — the truth."

"What will most likely happen?"

"Well, our Hokage wasn't certain, but I suggested that Sakura swap spots with another kunoichi — namely, Hyuuga Hinata. Of the three genin teams that passed this year, Yuuhi Kurenai's the only female jounin that's in charge of a genin team. She'll be better working with a fangirl than Asuma, or yours truly. Thing is, Kurenai seems pretty attached to the Hyuuga girl. She might not let the swap happen. But, maa, we'll see what'll happen."

Naruto nodded silently before glancing at the sky awkwardly, uncertain as to what to say.

"So, what are you doing up this early, Naruto?"

"I always wake up early," Naruto replied. "It's a nice time to be, when there's nobody else around and the sun's waking up."

"Hmm. I suppose so." Kakashi stood up. "Well, I need to get going. Have fun with Nara-san today. Ja ne!"

Naruto's eyes widened in shock, but Kakashi was already gone.

 _How the hell did he know I was going to the Nara Compound?!_

* * *

By the time Naruto got to the main entrance of the Nara Compound, Shikamaru was already there, the hitai-ate around his upper arm as always, his eyes half-lidded, and his posture slouched. He removed his hands from his pockets when she neared.

"Hey," he greeted (drawled). "My mother already has food ready. Come on, my home's this way."

Naruto was somewhat surprised to see that Shikamaru didn't live in an especially large house. He was the son of the head of the Nara Clan; she had thought they would have the largest home on the compound, but instead they had a much more humble home. It was still fairly large, but it wasn't a mansion like she had expected.

"What're you waiting for? Come on."

Realizing that she had stopped, Naruto hurried to catch up. Shikamaru didn't bother knocking, instead simply sliding the shoji to the side. Naruto hesitantly followed.

"Take off your shoes!" a sharp female voice called from somewhere in the home. Shikamaru shrugged off his shoes, padding along the clean floor of the genkan in his socks, taking care not to step in the lower level. Naruto bent down to slip off her standard shinobi sandals, putting them neatly by the door before following Shikamaru.

"Come on. The room we're going to eat in is this way."

A couple of turns later, Shikamaru slid open a fusuma and stepped into a much larger room. Naruto followed him, looking around her. A tokonoma on the right of the entrance held a beautiful sakura blossom tree painting. The tatami floor was mostly bare, but there was a chabudai in the middle with four zabuton around it, one on each edge.

Somebody was already sitting there.

"Hello, tousan," Shikamaru greeted, bowing slightly. Naruto followed suit, glancing at the man warily once she straightened.

Nara Shikaku stared at her for a moment, sadness entering his eyes. To think that Minato's daughter was this wary and distrusting of others…

It showed how much they, Konoha, had failed.

"Hello, Shikamaru. Is this your friend?"

"Yes. This is Uzumaki Naruto. Naruto-san, this is my tousan."

"It's nice to meet you, Nara-san," she greeted.

"It is nice to see my son's friend as well, Naruto-chan," he replied. "Please, take a seat. My wife has lunch ready. It will be out soon."

Shikamaru sat down next to his father, glancing at Naruto. She took the hint and sat down across from him, her back to the tokonoma.

"So, Naruto-chan, has my son been treating you well?"

Shikamaru gave a pointed look to his father, but Naruto was blank to that as she replied, "Shikamaru-san is very kind to have invited me over, even offering for me to stay for lunch."

"I'm glad to have you over. Shikamaru never invited friends over. Not since his Akimichi friend nearly ate our house out."

He chuckled, and Naruto smiled weakly, not sure what to do.

The fusuma opened again, and Shikamaru's mother stepped through, holding a tray. She was a pretty woman, with dark hair and eyes, and Naruto could tell that she had had shinobi training.

"Hello, Naruto-chan," she greeted. "I'm Shikamaru's mother, Yoshino. It's nice to meet you."

"Hello, Yoshino-san," Naruto replied.

The meal was a simple one. Yoshino had intended to prepare a meal that was much like the ones she would prepare for other clan heads, but Shikamaru had surprisingly told her not to. He claimed that Naruto would feel too insecure and overwhelmed and asked her to just make a few sushi dishes or something.

So, she had, and instead of seating it at a large dining table reserved specifically for guests, Shikamaru bugged her until she agreed to set it on the larger of the two chabudai they had. He said that it would make Naruto feel more comfortable. She had never seen Shikamaru so concerned about somebody before, much less a female, so she obliged.

Naruto had only used eating utensils for ramen. In the forest, she cooked her food and used skewers she forged right then and there or kept it on the ninja wires it was caught on — they were stronger than they looked. Her recent snack, dango, was served on skewers. Thus, she was slightly clumsy when she used the chopsticks to pick up the sushi pieces. She had never tried sushi before and had never intended to try sushi before, so she had to wait until the others ate it before she hesitantly tried it for herself.

"How is it, Naruto-chan?"

She blinked at Yoshino before swallowing. "It's delicious."

"It's my mother's secret salmon nigirizushi recipe," Shikamaru explained. He smiled slightly at the thankful look, no matter how small, that was given to him by the blonde. "Rice carefully cooked with vinegar and a couple of other ingredients, fresh salmon, and seaweed to hold it together. The way she prepares the rice and seaweed is uniquely her own style."

"Use some of the wasabi, Naruto-chan," Yoshino urged. "It's real wasabi, from the root Wasabia Japonica, not dyed horseradish and mustard oil. We don't have sushi often, so the small supply of wasabi we get lasts us."

Yoshino didn't wait for an answer, plopping some of the green dip onto her small plate. Naruto hesitantly dipped her chopsticks into the wasabi, adding it to the sushi, and then popped it into her mouth.

Her face reddened quickly, and she swallowed, letting out a sigh of relief as the stinging spiciness fell down to her stomach.

"It's delicious, Yoshino-san," she complimented. Yoshino grinned widely in accomplishment.

Shikamaru couldn't help but smile fondly.

Shikaku was the only one who hadn't yet spoken since the meal started. He was much more focused on his son.

" _Hey, tousan, can I ask you something? There's this girl in my class. Her name's Uzumaki Naruto. Why does everyone hate her so much?"_

Shikaku could see the softness in his son's eyes, the affection in them. He cared for the Uzumaki, whether he realized it or not.

After all, the subject of his affection certainly had not yet realized.

The rest of the meal passed with small talk, Shikaku choosing not to interrupt as Yoshino continuously questioned Naruto and Shikamaru rolled his eyes at some of the questions.

It wasn't until later, when Yoshino cleared the chabudai and left to wash the dishes that he spoke. "Naruto, have you completed the tree-walking technique?"

Naruto nodded, and Shikaku wasn't surprised. Somebody like Naruto, who lived being hated, would likely be ahead in their skills as a means to survive.

"My son has completed that exercise as well. It's a requirement for Nara members so that they can use the Nara Clan's signature techniques. Let's focus on actual techniques." As he spoke, he stood. Shikamaru nodded at Naruto, who followed him outside to the training ground.

"Shikamaru, focus on extending your shadow. Naruto, I don't know what you've been working on, so can you show me?"

In a quick motion, Naruto had flicked open both of her fans. Shikaku's face held slight surprise as she swung one of them.

The blade of chakra sliced through the ground, leaving a deep crevice. It continued, the crevice growing shallower and narrower the further it went, until it was gone.

"I see. It's like the tessenjutsu practices of Sunagakure, only instead of using the traditional one large war fan, you use two hand-held fans. Furthermore, instead of kicking up chakra-enhanced winds, you create blades of wind and chakra for more of a slashing effect than a tornado effect.

"But there are flaws. Have you noticed them already?"

Naruto nodded. "It requires great aim as well as correct posture, because it's easy to lose control of."

"That's not your only flaw," Shikaku stated sharply, mildly aware of how Shikamaru's shadow had frozen as his son shamelessly listened to him. "Small fans are handy and is clearly your personal preference, but they're near useless in hand-to-hand combat with a skilled taijutsu master. A _skilled_ one," he emphasized as Naruto opened her mouth to protest. She quickly shut it again as he continued, "Your fans are equipped with parts that chakra can easily travel through, further enforced with seals. But if they're out of your grip, your long-distance strength decreases greatly, doesn't it?"

Naruto frowned. It was true the fans were her only method of long-distance attacks, but still…

"You rely on taijutsu most of the time, using the fans to augment your strength. It's exceptional for a genin, it's great even for a chuunin, but it's a bad style to keep after that. You should adjust it slightly. Either use a larger weapon, keep spares, or find a way to keep the fans to you no matter what."

Naruto hesitated before saying, "I can easily manipulate a storage seal — cross it with a summoning seal, maybe, and keep the fans in storage that way. I might be able to create a teleportation seal linked between me and the fans, but there's no way I can make the delay time nonexistent."

Shikaku blinked. "You study fuuinjutsu?"

"I am an Uzumaki. And with who I am, studying fuuinjutsu is a must."

 _I see. She's aware of her tenant._ "In that case, please work on the seals. If it's not too much trouble, I would like to see them once you're done. Now, let's focus on making your attacks quicker and lighter. They're too heavy because you're using too much chakra. While that does equate strength, by making it lighter, you make it quicker. And in the world, this world especially, speed can equal power…"

* * *

"It's nighttime, Naruto-chan. Do you want something to eat?"

The panting blonde didn't turn around despite knowing it was somewhat rude. "Just a moment — I'm not —"

"Naruto, you should eat something before you collapse," Shikamaru said tiredly. His chakra stores were scraping on empty, despite the fact he had mostly been helping Naruto instead of actually training. Sometime during the session, Shikaku had been called for a council meeting, so Shikamaru had taken over his job at pointing out possible flaws and resolutions. During it, he had become much more familiar with the blonde, and thus, the unease and tension between them had faded.

"But — I'm almost there —" The blonde panted between her words, gripping her fans.

"Naruto, it's twice as fast as before. You won't forget how to do it just because you stopped for a bite to eat, and while I accept the fact your chakra stores are abnormally large and conveniently so, you can't keep this up for... taking out the time we spent talking... about six hours!" Shikamaru paused. "Wait a moment — Naruto — Crap!"

The fans slipped from her grip, falling onto the training ground as the blonde toppled, exhaustion piling onto her. Shikamaru hastily caught her.

"Kaasan, can you lay out a futon in my room? The exhaustion finally caught up with her."

"Of course. Bring her in, and take care to remove her shoes," Yoshino reminded her son before she disappeared into their house.

Nara Shikamaru was not, by any means, the most fit genin of his class. However, as a clan heir, he was still in good shape, and Naruto was surprisingly light. Stooping to pick up the two fans and laying them on her chest, he gathered her up bridal style and walked through the already open shoji. Slipping off her sandals and kicking off his own, he continued to his room.

His mother had already laid out the futon, and he carefully laid her on it.

Yoshino watched silently from the side as her son covered the girl with a blanket, laying the fans next to her pillow. She had never seen her son so absorbed in something before (shougi doesn't count), and certainly not in somebody else before.

She knew about Uzumaki Naruto — which adult didn't? She pitied the girl for having to go through what she did go through, and from what she had seen, she seemed like a nice person. A little shy, very insecure, and innocent to so many things despite being exposed to so much, but a very nice person.

As a mother, she knew it was fine letting Shikamaru befriend the jinchuuriki.

She quietly stepped out of the room.

Shikamaru still hadn't noticed her.

* * *

Naruto's eyelids slowly raised, her vision blurry for a moment before it cleared.

A soft moan escaped her lips as she tried to sit up.

"You're finally up?"

Shaking her disoriented head, she stared at Shikamaru for a moment before realizing she wasn't in the forest. "Where am I?"

"You passed out from exhaustion yesterday," Shikamaru explained. "You're in my room. It's pretty late — I was going to wake you up for lunch if you didn't get up yourself."

"For… Lunch?"

"Yes, it's almost noon."

Her eyes widened. It had been ages since she last slept in so late.

"Go clean yourself before lunch. You can use of the extra towels there to dry yourself off. I suggest you keep it around you as your clothes are cleaned and dried."

Naruto flushed slightly, but she followed his directions, sliding open the shoji and heading for the bathroom.

About half an hour later, Naruto was out of the bathroom, a towel securely around her body, and her clothes hanging outside to dry. With the summer sun, it would be dry soon.

Shikamaru stared in shock when he saw her.

Her hair was wet and slick. The spikes covered her right eye and most of her cheek, as always, plastered to the skin due to the water, and it was long, extending to her waist. It wasn't trimmed neatly, and Shikamaru mildly noted that it had been allowed to grow naturally. Her skin glowed healthily, droplets of water still hanging there.

She was beautiful, and it was so evident now that she wasn't hiding in that hoodie of hers.

His eyes swept over the odd, burn-like scar that marred her skin on her left upper arm. It looked the way a set of fangs would have sunk into flesh, but at the same time, it appeared like a burn, not something that specifically etched into her arm.

Quietly, he observed what else was unique about her. There was a hint of blue around the side of her neck and her cheek, and when she moved a few of her longer locks out of her face, he saw a few tendrils of white peeking out from the towel on her back. What was it — a tattoo? Why would somebody at her age get a tattoo?

 _Wait a second! Shikamaru, get a hold of yourself! You're staring!_

"You're welcome to stay again to train, if you'd like," Shikamaru hastened to say, trying to get his mind off the image of a towel-clad Naruto.

Naruto stared at him, startled. "I can't do that, I've intruded on your hospitality enough —"

"Don't worry about it, Naruto-chan," Yoshino stated, suddenly entering the room. "I'm glad to have you over. Shikamaru likes you, my husband approves of you, and I think you're a sweet girl. You can stay here whenever you want; you'll be welcomed."

Shikamaru glared at his mom at the implications behind her words, but Naruto didn't realize that, simply nodding. "Thank you, Yoshino-san."

"Your clothes are dry. You can change in Shikamaru's room. Make sure you pull over the byobu for privacy."

"I will. Thank you." It took her a moment to remember where Shikamaru's room was, but she was off and away without any reminders soon afterwards.

As soon as she was out of earshot, Yoshino stated bluntly, "You like her."

"Huh?"

"You, Nara Shikamaru, like Uzumaki Naruto," Yoshino stated slowly and exaggeratedly, as though as speaking to a little child. "No matter how much you deny it."

Shikamaru watched as his mother walked away.

"Ugh. Troublesome."

* * *

When Naruto asked him to oversee her training again, he couldn't bring himself to refuse. Nodding in response to her question, he followed her out to the training ground. Her hoodie was back on, hiding her hair again.

"Ne, Naruto, why do you always wear that hoodie?"

Naruto blinked. "Huh? Oh, this? Higurashi-san made this for me exclusively, and for free. It's a gift."

"But why do you always keep that hoodie on? You should let the hood down once in awhile." Seeing her hesitate, he added, "Your hair is beautiful."

Naruto's eyes widened slightly before she looked away. "I don't know… It makes me feel safer, I guess."

"Here." Gently, he slid off the hoodie, lifting her long locks up so that it was free. "That's better. Come on." Without looking back, he walked away, resisting the urge to continue playing with her hair.

Naruto stared at his walking form, paralyzed, before something stirred in her and she hurried to catch up.

Kyuubi snorted from inside her. **Well, I'd certainly accept the Nara over the Uchiha,** Kyuubi muttered. **But seriously, when did she become such a magnet for boys? The Uchiha, the Nara — what's she going to do next, change the mindset of a ridiculously stubborn boy of another clan and make him fall in love with her, too?**

Naruto heard nothing of Kyuubi's musing as Shikamaru gestured for her to open her fans.

* * *

"Shikaku-kun, have you noticed?"

"Give me some credit, Yoshino-chan. I may not be the most romantic fellow out there, but I have fallen in love with a beautiful girl before. Shikamaru likes the Uzumaki girl, and he likes her a lot."

Yoshino smiled. "I don't think he even realizes this. He was just curious about her at first, but somewhere along the way he began doing more for her. He likes her, but his mind — no matter how genius it is — hasn't realized that yet."

"Naruto would be well for Shikamaru," Shikaku replied. "She's not overly troublesome —" Yoshino twitched — "and she's trusting Shikamaru, which is a huge step for her. She was on guard with me the entire time I was helping her train, however subtle it was. But look at them now."

Yoshino glanced at the two interacting genin — Shikamaru had taken Naruto's wrists and was adjusting them to try a new position. She could just barely make out the smiles on both of their faces.

"She's completely relaxed around him. She's going to grow up into a real beauty, but by the time suitors line up at her door, she just might already love somebody she trusts now."

"So you approve of them?"

Shikaku chuckled. "Would you hit me if I said I didn't?"

Yoshino gave her husband a look, and Shikaku chuckled louder.

"I won't tug Shikamaru away from Naruto. They're good for each other."

"I guess Naruto will be somebody we see often in the Nara Compound now…"

"You don't want it any other way, do you?"

Yoshino smiled.

* * *

It wasn't until evening that Naruto decided to take her leave. Shikamaru invited her to come over again the next weekend by herself, or maybe sometime during the week. Regardless, Naruto had said she'll see if she could come again next weekend.

While she had trained, he had focused on that, the training. But now that she was gone, he was aware that his usually organized mind was chaotic.

He wanted to see her smile.

He wanted that smile directed at him.

When she smiled, his heart lifted.

 _Why?!_

He was just curious about her, right? She was somebody who was a complete mystery — who her parents were, where she lived, why she seemed so distrusting of others, why villagers hate her, why her last name is of a famous, nearly-nonexistent clan…

He wanted to know more about her.

It was out of pure curiosity.

So why was he so conflicted?! Why was he putting so much effort into helping her?! Why was helping her not troublesome at all?!

He couldn't understand it.

" _You, Nara Shikamaru, like Uzumaki Naruto."_

Shikamaru gritted his teeth.

 _Gah! TROUBLESOME!_

* * *

The fox kits tackled her the moment she arrived. The youngest one whined loudly.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here yesterday," Naruto whispered softly. Reaching into her hoodie, she brushed the chakra burn.

Kurama made its usual entrance, but this time, he didn't go play with the fox kits. **Can you guys play by yourselves for a bit? I need to speak with Naruto.** His crimson eyes flickered to his host. **Privately.**

The fox kits all whined together in disappointment, but it was rare Kyuubi would ask this, so they obeyed. Kurama led the way, Naruto following the chibi fox, slightly worried.

Was the demon going to patronize her about spending the night in the Nara Compound? Would Kyuubi forbid her from seeing Shikamaru?

Or maybe it was Sasuke. Maybe Kyuubi didn't want her associating with an Uchiha, with the cursed eyes Sasuke would no doubt develop eventually.

Unknowingly, her heart clenched.

They slipped through a private path to the back of a waterfall. There, Kurama sat and stared at Naruto, who had to sit — the ceiling was too low for her to stand. Resting on her calves, she stared back.

 **You spent the night at the Nara Compound.**

She nodded. "I passed out from exhaustion, and Shikamaru must have carried me in."

 **If you actually were on guard, you would have never reached the point of passing out. You trust the Nara boy, do you not?**

She hesitated. Unable to lie to herself, she replied, "I do."

 **You're not worried about being betrayed?**

"I am worried. I always do. I'm still afraid you'll abandon me one day, Kurama. But I trust you, and I trust him."

Kurama took in her slightly nervous eyes, the way she was biting her lower lip just slightly, and how her fingers were fidgeting.

 **Alright. I approve.**

She let out a small sigh of relief.

 **But the Uchiha.**

She hesitantly looked into his eyes.

 **Why would you trust the Uchiha, when he has the potential to release those cursed eyes? The very eyes that controlled me and fated you, doomed you to a life of hate?**

"Not all Uchiha are like that," she protested. "Weasel-san, Uchiha Itachi, took care of me. He was the only one to care for me the way an older brother would for a while. He tucked me into bed, he saved me from mobs, he taught me how to hold a kunai, how to control my chakra. Then his friend, Shisui-san, started taking me to the academy whenever villagers tried to stop me, and taught me how to dispel genjutsu. I hate Uchiha Madara for doing what he did to you, I hate the Masked Uchiha for doing what he did, but I can't carry that hate onto Itachi-san, Shisui-san, or even Sasuke-san."

 **Itachi and Shisui I understand. But Sasuke — What did he do?**

"He understood my pain. He sympathized with the suffering I went through. We're both alone, but we can care for each other. Please, Kurama…"

Kurama's eyes softened slightly. It didn't truly disapprove of the Uchiha; it just wanted to make sure Naruto truly wanted that friendship.

And, of course, it'll give the demon fox an excuse to take over Naruto's body and beat the pulp out of the Uchiha if he harmed her in any way.

 **Fine. Just take care of yourself.**

"I will."

 **You should go to sleep early. Tomorrow you have to meet up with Team Seven again at six.**

Naruto nodded. "I'll go clean myself. Thank you, Kurama."

Kurama watched as she left. _**There's no need to thank me, Naruto. You're unlike my other two hosts — you care about me. You want to make me happy, you want to free me if it were possible.**_

 _ **I consider you one of the foxes.**_ _ **Somewhere along the way, I've began to care about you.**_

* * *

 ** _By now, you should have an idea of how Naruto fights. My old self practically idolized Temari, so that's where the fans came from. Furthermore, I apparently didn't want Naruto to have it that easy, simply using the Shunshin no Jutsu to get anywhere she liked, control Kurama without any consequences, and kicking everyone's ass. I also adjusted the way several other characters are. I wanted Sasuke to build up a quick bond, because... Well, that'll be seen eventually. I liked Shikamaru a lot in the past and I still like Shikamaru a lot._**

 ** _I have no intention of making Naruto train under a taijutsu specialist. No Gai and definitely no Tsunade. I want to clear a few things up:_**

 ** _Naruto trusts Kurama and Kurama can exit his cage, but not with his massive amounts of chakra. The mark Yuki gave her weakened the seal enough that Naruto was able to unlock it even without the key._**

 ** _Naruto cares about Kurama and Kurama does care about Naruto, so although he seems strict, he just worries about Naruto._**

 ** _Nara Shikaku is aware of Naruto's heritage, not just her tenant._**

 ** _Sakura will not be dropped from the ninja program. She will be a kunoichi, but if she is on Team Seven... Well, that has yet to be seen._**

 ** _In case you don't know the japanese words, here's a clarification of the ones you might not know:_**

 ** _A shoji is a sliding panel made of translucent paper in a wooden frame. If you watched the Uchiha Clan Massacre, you would have seen a hand that seemed to tear right through the wall of the house. That's because it was a shoji._**

 ** _The genkan is the entrance of the home. It has a lower level floor that is considered extremely dirty; that's the place Shikamaru avoided touching with his socks on. It's considered rude to walk with shoes into somebody's home, and polite guests leave their shoes neatly facing towards the door._**

 ** _A fusuma are sliding panels as well that can be used as doors or walls. They can be used to redefine spaces within a room. So basically, if you slide open a fusuma, you might be enlarging the room by combining it with the room next to it._**

 ** _Tokonoma is a slightly elevated area against the wall in a room intended to receive guests. Pretty much bare with a piece of art or something else, it's considered polite for guests to sit with their backs to the tokonoma. It's a humble gesture that avoids showing off the prized art in the tokonoma. It is also absolutely refused for somebody to sit in the tokonoma._**

 ** _Tatami floors are mat floors, traditionally made of rice straw._**

 ** _Chabudai are tables with short legs. When somebody eats at a chabudai, they sit, usually on zabuton. It's not uncommon for a family to eat together at a chabudai. That's why Shikamaru pushed his mother to set it on the chabudai; it was to make it as though Naruto was more familiar with them, so she wouldn't feel awkward and out of place._**

 ** _Zabuton are thin pillows used to sit on tatami floors._**

 ** _Byobu are folding screens used for privacy. They're usually decorated with art, and they're really lovely._**

 ** _That should be all the words. Next chapter, I plan to delve a little deeper into Yuki. The person Yuki, I mean. So next time, expect the introduction of a new character!_**

 ** _Review, please!_**


	5. On the Move

"Alright, here's our mission. We're going to have to hurry, because we've been delayed a day already." Kisame glanced at the female of the trio nervously; all three of them knew they had been delayed because she had attacked Itachi, but he didn't dare bring it up.

"We should be able to make it," Itachi intoned emotionlessly. "Our objective is to force Zabuza to join within ten days. We have nine days, counting today. We'll need the rest of today and possibly part of tomorrow to arrive at where he is suspected to be; Nami no Kuni. That gives us at least eight days to find him and get him to join."

"And if he doesn't comply, we kill him," Kisame finished. He glanced once again at the female between him and Itachi. "You'll be the most important factor in getting him to join. He was your uncle-in-law, right?"

"He was going to. He was engaged to my aunt, but the Kekkei Genkai extermination of the Yuki Clan happened first," she replied. "Nevertheless, he should still recognize me."

"Good."

Itachi turned slightly to stare at the shorter female. "It goes without saying that we cannot leave him alive if he refuses to join."

Her pale blue eyes hardened. "I know."

Itachi stared at her a little longer before turning away. "Let's go."

All three disappeared on the spot.

* * *

Naruto usually never showed her dislikes so blatantly. But this time, even she was wearing an expression of annoyance as her team completed yet another D-Rank (also known as chores).

Luckily, her team was generally a fairly quiet one. She herself didn't speak much, Sasuke had too much pride to complain, and their newest addition, Hyuuga Hinata, was too shy to say anything outright.

In the end, Kakashi has gotten his way. Sakura had been swapped for Hinata, much to the pink haired girl's complaints and Kurenai's twitching eye, and Naruto had to admit she liked Hinata a lot more.

"Team Seven reporting in," Kakashi droned, paying more attention to his book than the report. "Capture Tora the cat: Complete in two hours and fourteen minutes."

Tora had surprisingly loved Hinata, and was currently happily purring in the Hyuuga's arms. Hinata set the cat down in her owner's arms, and Team Seven proceeded to sweatdrop heavily as the cat was pretty much molested. Despite how much they were annoyed by how long it took, they still felt a sliver of sympathy.

"Alright, Team Seven — For your next mission, we have… Walking dogs, pulling weeds, babysitting—"

"Actually, Hokage-sama," Kakashi interrupted, closing his book and staring down at an uncharacteristically twitchy Sasuke, "I think we can take a C-Rank next."

Sasuke's head snapped upwards, and Naruto's eyes widened slightly. Hinata, however, seemed to shrink, tapping her pointer fingers together.

"Kakashi, I don't think that would be wise. They're fresh rookies, and one of your members seem to—"

Hinata shrunk even more.

Then she felt someone tap her shoulder, so she turned, staring into a bright blue eye.

"Na-Naruto-chan?" she whispered.

"You don't have to worry so much that you'll drag us down, Hinata-san," Naruto stated quietly, missing the pleased look Kakashi gave her. "We're a team now. We'll look after you just like how you'd look after us."

"B-But, Naruto-chan, I'm n-not as s-strong as you or S-Sasuke-kun," she practically whimpered.

"What are you talking about? You're the best taijutsu fighter in our old class," Sasuke injected. "Did you forget that taijutsu-only tournament?"

"B-But, that was b-because I c-could use chakra," Hinata protested.

"It was still taijutsu. Besides that, you have a great knowledge of herbs, medicinal ointments that you make yourself, and various poisons. You're strong, and you need to realize that," Naruto said firmly.

Hinata's white eyes widened. She had long admired Naruto, the way she kept pushing regardless of how much adults hated her. Just like her, Naruto had a lonely childhood without the love of a parent, and she tried her best despite others being against her. But Hinata had never thought the person she constantly admired had paid any attention to _her_.

But she _did_. All that time she thought Naruto was out of her reach, _she had been observing her._

"O-Okay, Naruto-chan," she nodded. "Kakashi-sensei, Sandaime-sama, I th-think we're ready!"

"Next step, we're ridding you of that stutter of yours," Sasuke muttered.

Kakashi's mouth curved into a smile underneath his mask. Oh yes, his team was great.

"Alright," Sandaime caved, shooting a look at Iruka when he was about to protest. "I have a C-Rank for you guys. It's an escorting mission to Nami no Kuni. Send Tazuna in!"

A few seconds later, the door opened. Sasuke's eyebrow raised, Hinata blinked in surprise, and Naruto doubled over as the strong smell of alcohol hit her.

"Wha, are — _hic_ — these brats my guards? They're — _hic_ — just kids! That girl doesn't look like she can — _hic_ — hurt a fly!"

Hinata bowed her head immediately, but Naruto snapped, now having somewhat recovered, "What do you know? She can kill you with just one touch!"

Tazuna's reddened face from excess alcohol paled, and Kakashi let out a sigh. As happy as he was that Naruto was showing more emotion… "Naruto, don't threaten the client."

When they had reunited after the weekend, Sakura had been swapped for Hinata. Kakashi had noticed then a few newer things about his team.

Hinata was considerably shy, but had respect for Sasuke and admiration for Naruto. All she needed was confidence in herself.

Sasuke seemed much more relaxed, no longer the tense ball he had been when Kakashi first met them. He wasn't positive why, but by the looks he constantly threw to his side, Kakashi had a good idea why.

Naruto, oblivious to those looks, seemed to be a lot more… happy. Like Sasuke, she appeared more relaxed, but more so than that, though still extremely quiet and fairly secluded, she smiled a lot more easily.

Shikamaru had done a lot for her in just two days.

"Whatever! My name's Tazuna, the master bridge — _hic_ — builder! You better super protect me until — _hic_ — I get back home!"

Team Seven sweatdropped in unison for the second time in ten minutes as Tazuna wobbled out of the room after a few seconds of groping for the doorknob. Kakashi let out a sigh before turning to his team,

"Go home and prepare. Meet up in two hours at the gate."

All three of his genin nodded, and they exited the room.

Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

Kakashi wasn't surprised when none of the three had backpacks on them.

In the first two weeks of knowing each other, they had exchanged their unique skills. He doubted they had shared everything, but now, all of them carried homemade medicinal ointment courtesy of Hinata, the best ninja wire and kunai that could be found in Konoha from the Uchiha Clan, and, from Naruto, storage scrolls.

He had been surprised to learn that Naruto studied fuuinjutsu and even more so that she was already fairly efficient in it. While she was no means a master of fuuinjutsu yet, she was still considered advanced in the ancient art. She had made her own storage scrolls using her own seals and purchased scrolls from Higurashi's. Buying storage seals costed a lot, and nobody would want to spend so much money on something that'll have to be replaced when the seal wears out. Thus, Naruto supplied it for all of them. The thin scrolls were kept somewhere on their person — Sasuke in his pockets, Hinata in her coat, and Naruto up her sleeves.

"Alright, let's go."

For the most part, at the beginning, Hinata and Naruto talked quietly from either side of Tazuna, Sasuke walked behind them, and it finished with Kakashi bringing up the rear. Once in a while, Sasuke would head up to join in his teammates' conversations.

Kakashi, however, paid no attention to that.

In the front, Naruto frowned slightly as the smell of metal and — poison? — hit her nose. Subtly, she inserted that information into her sentences. All three genin nodded slightly.

Kakashi smiled. Like Naruto, he had smelled the overly strong acidity of poison.

Well, it was time to see what his team would do in an ambush situation.

As soon as Sasuke stepped over and away from the puddle, the smell moved. Chains wrapped around a startled Kakashi, the teeth digging into the elite jounin's flesh.

"One down!"

Both assailants yanked the chains connected to each of their heavy metal gauntlets, and Kakashi was torn into pieces.

Tazuna paled and stumbled backwards, falling. Hinata moved automatically into the Hyuuga's Juuken stance, staying where she was as Naruto and Sasuke left their spots, running alongside each other.

Two white-hot blades of chakra forced the two to move towards each other. Taking note of the Kirigakure hitai-ate, Sasuke grabbed a spool of ninja wire from his pouch, tossing one end to Naruto, who caught it between her teeth.

A few more chakra blades forced the Kirigakure missing-nin to stay put, and Naruto and Sasuke ran around the duo, Sasuke flashing through handseals and Naruto's fans turning into position.

"What the hell, you brats!"

The ninja wire now coiled around them tightly, Sasuke completed his seals. "Katon: Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

Naruto swung her fans, letting go of the ninja wire. "Fuuton: Tatsumaki!"

The already large fireball intensified as it coiled along the deluxe ninja wire. It grew white hot as Naruto's technique collided with it. The smell of burnt flesh filled the air.

Hinata could feel the intense heat even from her distance.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow as the leaves next to him were scorched.

Needless to say, those two missing-nin weren't getting up anytime soon.

Naruto and Sasuke only had a few seconds to admire their work as Kakashi appeared in front of them. "Good job, you two. You as well, Hinata; you didn't panic and immediately slid into position to defend Tazuna. Well done."

Tazuna was the only one who gaped at the appearance of a supposedly dead shinobi. His genin smiled (or, in Sasuke's case, smirked).

"Tazuna-san," Kakashi said slowly, his eye hardening. "Do you have anything you would like to confess?"

Tazuna began to sweat.

"Those ninja weren't trying to take my head specifically. They wanted to kill you. So tell me — What are you hiding?"

Tazuna let out a sigh of defeat. "Nami no Kuni is currently extremely poor. We didn't have money for anything but a C-Rank, and even then, it took every villager's spare ryou. Your real mission isn't to escort me home. It's to protect me as I complete the bridge."

"The bridge."

"Yes. A man has taken over the boats and ships. He's effectively bankrupted everyone by charging us for taking the boats. Nami no Kuni is surrounded by water, so boats were our only means of transportation for goods, traveling, anything along those lines. By taking over the boats, he's taken over our land. You might have heard of this man — his name is Gatou."

Kakashi frowned, his mind trying to determine remember that name. "Gatou? That shipping magnate? The millionaire Gatou?"

"Yes. But he's not what he appears. Secretly, he's a drug dealer. He'll do anything to gain profit. He's a cruel and corrupted businessman. Nami no Kuni citizens couldn't do anything. He hires shinobi and mercenaries to do his dirty work for him."

"And these ninjas must have been hired too," Sasuke muttered, eyeing the charred forms in disgust.

"Th-They are chuunin-ranked missing-nin," Hinata informed the others. "Th-They're called the Demon Brothers."

Naruto frowned. "They must be trying to kill Tazuna because of the bridge. With a bridge, there's no need for the boats, and Gatou's monopoly would crumble."

"Tazuna, you shouldn't have lied. Money's one thing, but you put my team's lives in danger. I can't forgive that. We can't continue this mission; we're heading back."

Tazuna's face twisted with sadness, but Kakashi turned away. It didn't concern him anymore.

"Wait, Kakashi-sensei…"

He turned in surprise. Hinata looked away from his face, but her voice was strong as she spoke, "I want to help him… I want to continue the mission!"

"If Hinata wants to, I'll continue it as well," Naruto said firmly.

"If my teammates are going, I will too," Sasuke added.

Kakashi stared at the three determined faces before smiling slightly under his mask. "These two men are chuunin ranked, as Hinata told you. That means the next attacker, or attackers, will likely be jounin level. Are you three truly ready for this?"

All three nodded in unison. Kakashi turned around to face Tazuna again. "Well, my genin appear to want to continue this mission… So consider yourself lucky, Tazuna-san."

The bridge-builder's face shown with gratitude. "Thank you… Thank you so much."

He turned around and shuffled away.

"Um, Kakashi-sensei… What do we do about the Demon Brothers?" Hinata asked hesitantly.

Kakashi answered that by looping ninja wire around the bits of metal among the melted mess, dragging them away from the road. "Konoha ANBU will arrest them. Come on; let's go."

They fell into their previous formation. Tazuna remained quiet, realizing that though they were willing to help him, they were still annoyed at his lying.

They took a secret, small rowboat to Nami no Kuni. Through the fog, they were able to make out the shadow of the half-completed bridge.

"Amazing… That bridge is truly a work of art, Tazuna-san," Hinata whispered as they stepped onto dry land.

"Of course; I'm the best bridge-builder out there," he boasted. "We're at Nami no Kuni. Keep qui—"

Sasuke twitched in surprise as Naruto reached into his shuriken holster and pulled out one of the projectiles, flicking her wrist to send it flying.

Kakashi frowned.

A scared, snow white bunny jumped out of the bush.

"Naruto, what's the big deal?" Sasuke demanded.

"I heard footsteps. His presence is still here."

"There's nothing—"

"GET DOWN!"

At the shout of their jounin sensei, all three genin let themselves fall to the ground, Kakashi pulling Tazuna down with him. Something long and huge spun over them — it would have decapitated all of them had they not gotten down.

It embedded itself into a tree, revealing itself to be a giant sword. A tall man jumped onto its handle, arms crossed.

"I have to say, blondie, you have good ears if you heard my footsteps."

Taking in his bare, muscular torso, short spiky black hair, brown eyes, and the bandages that covered the bottom half of his face, Kakashi already had an idea of who he was. The hitai-ate worn sideways on his head confirmed his suspicion.

"Momochi Zabuza…"

The smirk was evident even through the bandages. "So the famed Sharingan no Kakashi knows who I am?"

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Sharingan?"

Kakashi ignored Sasuke's inquiry. "What is your purpose?"

"Give me the old man, and I'll let you and your little genin go."

"We can't do that. He's our client."

"Well, then, isn't it obvious what'll happen, then?"

The air suddenly grew heavy, slamming down on them. Tazuna buckled immediately as Kakashi glared at Zabuza and flared his own killing intent as he yanked up his hitai-ate.

With Kurama in her, Naruto was all but immune to the killing intent. In between Sasuke and Hinata, both of whom were trembling, she reached and grasped both of their hands.

It broke the spell immediately. Hinata took a deep breath, her Byakugan emerging, and Sasuke gripped Naruto's hand a little tighter before both of them let go.

"Don't worry, you three."

"Kirigakure no Jutsu!"

Heavy white mist descended upon them as Zabuza yanked his sword out of the tree and disappeared. Naruto let out a small growl — by focusing on concentrated Kaze-natured chakra, she couldn't simply blow the mist away.

"I won't let my comrades die."

"Isn't that sweet!"

Sasuke reacted the fastest, his legs wrapping around Zabuza's neck as he somersaulted over the taller man, forcing the man to bend over backwards to the ground, something he shouldn't be capable of doing. Hinata's palms glowed blue with chakra before she slammed it into Zabuza's exposed chest, directly over his heart.

Zabuza burst into water.

Hinata let out a cry. "Kakashi-sensei! Behind you!"

"It's over!"

The sword swiped, cutting Kakashi cleanly in half. Hinata paled.

Kakashi burst into water.

Zabuza's eyes widened as his throat met cold metal.

"It's over," Kakashi mocked, his kunai touching the pulsing jugular vein.

Zabuza began to chuckle. "You're as skilled as your reputation says, Kakashi. You managed to locate me and copy my technique even through the Kirigakure no Jutsu. I'm impressed."

"KAKASHI-SENSEI! BEHIND YOU!"

Kakashi's eyes widened at Hinata's louder, more frantic cry as the gruff voice snarled behind him, "I'm not that easy!"

Kakashi turned and dropped, the sword cutting off no more than a few strands of hair. He doubled over as a foot landed itself in his gut, sending him flying into the lake.

Hinata let out a small wince at the sound as she viewed everything with her Byakugan.

"N-Naruto-chan, Sasuke-kun," she whispered, "K-Kakashi-sensei…"

The mist finally cleared, and Hinata didn't have to say anything else. Naruto and Sasuke could easily see Kakashi, trapped in a swirling sphere of water.

"You got careless, Kakashi," Zabuza snorted. "You shouldn't have underestimated me. You can't escape the Suiro no Jutsu. Now, all I have to do is take care of the brats."

A Mizu Bunshin formed from one of the many puddles of water. The second Zabuza smirked at the three genin.

"Wannabe shinobi, wearing those hitai-ate and trying to act strong," he sneered. "You're nothing but wimps. A real shinobi has his hands dyed red. You're worth nothing unless you're in my Bingo Book."

Kakashi interrupted Zabuza's clone. "You three, take Zabuza and run! He has to stay here to maintain the water prison, and his clone can't wander away too far. Don't worry about me —"

"You sure are contradictory, aren't you."

Kakashi stared at Naruto in surprise. The female, however, didn't look at him. She instead looked at Zabuza.

"There are shinobi who have dipped their hands in blood every day, every hour, but are pathetic."

Zabuza's eyes narrowed. "What are you implying?"

"That you, Momochi Zabuza, are one of those shinobi."

His eyes flared. "Why, you little brat —"

"Sasuke, Hinata, you know what to do, right?"

"Hn."

"Y-Yes, Naruto-chan!"

"Tazuna-san?"

Tazuna let out a sigh. "I'm not going to be able to stop you anyway. Knock yourselves out!"

"Good." Naruto's mouth curved into a small smirk. "Go!"

Sasuke ran forward first, but Hinata, after a second's hesitance, quickly followed. They split up on opposite sides, and Naruto, in front of Tazuna, raised both fans.

The blades of chakra were redirected with the sword. "This is patheti—"

A small stream of fire collided with the ground in front of him, and smoke filled the air. Sasuke tore away from the smoke cloud, going around it, but Hinata took a deep breath, held it, and headed straight in, squinting.

Out of pure instinct, the clone parried a blow. The smoke cloud effectively covered everything — he was virtually blind.

Something caught his arm, forcing him to drop his sword as his arm went numb, and the next moment, he felt excruciating pain around his groin. Letting out a gasp, he burst into water.

Zabuza doubled over suddenly. "Th-That Hyuuga brat!"

Kakashi stared, bewildered, at the man. Sasuke sweatdropped heavily.

"I didn't think Hinata could muster the guts to kick him down there…" Sasuke muttered. Now close enough to Zabuza, he skidded to a stop, his hands reaching into his shuriken holsters and sending two at Zabuza with just a flick of his wrists.

Zabuza tilted his head, having already recovered from the clone's painful memory, the two projectiles whizzing by him. "Do you really think that'll be enough —"

Sasuke smirked.

Zabuza's eyes widened, and he quickly turned around, ducking just in time to avoid getting a shuriken to the throat. All it did was leave a clean cut going diagonally upwards on his jawline.

But it had drawn blood, and that angered Zabuza.

He turned to face Sasuke, but the raven haired boy had jumped to the side.

A nearly transparent blade of chakra was whizzing towards his arm. He reached for his sword, but it wouldn't budge.

Sasuke smirked. Truly, ninja wire was too good. It hurt holding on and battling Zabuza's tremendous physical strength, but he dug his heels into the ground and held on. Everything depended on him preventing Zabuza from using that sword.

Zabuza did the only thing he could to save his arm.

Yanking his arm away from the prison, he ran for it. With one hard tug, he freed his sword, lifting it over his head. Sasuke fell off balance as the wires were yanked from his hands, drawing clean lines of stinging red.

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU, BRAT!"

Sasuke's body tensed for the pain.

It never came.

Kakashi blocked the strike with the metal square on the back of his glove, the strength of the blow causing blood to leak from his hand. "Good job, Sasuke. You two as well, Hinata, Naruto. But I'll take it from here."

Zabuza scowled from under his mask. "I got careless and accidentally released you…"

"No. You were forced to release it," Kakashi corrected. "I made the mistake of underestimating you, but you made the same mistake by underestimating my genin. I won't be caught by the same technique twice. What will you do now?"

Sasuke hurried out of the way to join with Naruto and Tazuna, Hinata arriving seconds later. He had moved just in time; both shinobi jumped backwards and circled each other before flashing through handseals.

"So many handseals… And so fast!" Hinata said in awe. "Look — Kakashi-sensei's doing the exact same ones as Zabuza without missing a beat!"

Two voices cried, "Suiton: Suiryuudan no Jutsu!"

Two water twisters arose and formed into dragons, complete with glowing yellow eyes. Their serpentine bodies coiled around each other before they burst.

Kakashi's kunai collided with Zabuza's sword. Both jumped away again.

"Sasuke… Will your Sharingan evolve to be as effective as that?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke nodded. "It will eventually — Once I awaken it, that is."

"Correct me if I'm wrong," Naruto said slowly, "but didn't you witness part of the Uchiha Clan Massacre?"

His body tensed at the painful memory. "Yes."

"Then shouldn't your Sharingan have already activated?"

Hinata looked at him before inputting her own thoughts, "The Sharingan generally activates in a time of t-trauma or intense need from what I've read. You probably already activated it, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke's brow furrowed. "I'll have to force myself, or get forced to activate it by will if it actually already emerged—"

A loud rush of water followed by a smash caught their attention, and the three ran towards the noise, Tazuna following them. Kakashi's battle had long moved out of sight when they weren't paying attention.

All three tensed when they saw a new individual, this one with long black hair gathered in a small bun and his face entirely masked.

"Wait, he's not an enemy," Kakashi stated sharply. "That mask — You're a Kirigakure hunter-nin, correct?"

The masked figure nodded. "We've been hunting Momochi Zabuza for a while now," he said softly. His voice was gentle but firm. "Thank you for dealing with him."

Naruto's eyes narrowed. Kyuubi stirred in her. Something didn't feel right.

Hinata looked from the senbon in the motionless Zabuza's neck to the Kirigakure hunter-nin. Everything appeared normal, but…

In a blink, the hunter-nin was hoisting Zabuza onto his back. "I will take my leave now. Good-bye."

Leaves swirled, and he was gone.

Naruto gritted her teeth. "We shouldn't have let him go. Something doesn't feel right about him—"

She was interrupted by a soft thud. Kakashi had collapsed.

Hinata, with Sasuke's help, hoisted him up. "H-He's chakra-deprived," she whispered. "But not dangerously so. Tazuna-san, where is your home?"

Tazuna stared for another few seconds before he finally recovered from the fighting that happened earlier. "It's not far from here."

Naruto yanked down Kakashi's hitai-ate. With Kakashi hoisted awkwardly over all three of their shoulders in a fireman's carry, they followed Tazuna to his home.

Pale eyes narrowed from the shadows.

* * *

"Have you determined their location?"

She nodded in reply. "Zabuza has been defeated by Hatake Kakashi and his genin team. Zabuza's accomplice saved him, and the Demon Brothers have been killed."

"Who are the genin?" Itachi inquired softly.

"Hyuuga Hinata. She doesn't have the Caged Bird Seal, so she's of the Main Family. Uzumaki Naruto, jinchuuriki of Konoha. Uchiha Sasuke, the Last Uchiha."

Itachi's eyes flickered for a millisecond, so fast that only she saw it, when she said Sasuke's name.

"And Zabuza's accomplice?"

"He's dressed as a Kirigakure hunter-nin at the moment. But his chakra…"

Kisame frowned. "What about his chakra?"

"It felt like mine a couple of years ago."

Itachi closed his eyes. "I see. He's another Yuki survivor, isn't he?"

"I believe so."

"Alright. How long will it take for Momochi and Hatake to recover?" Kisame asked.

"Approximately a week for them to get to full strength."

"That means we have a day if we want to wait for them to recover. What should we do, Itachi-san?" Kisame questioned.

Itachi stayed quiet for a moment, thinking. He didn't want to see Sasuke again so soon because he hadn't planned for that, and his female teammate didn't want Naruto to meet her just yet. But then again, there was the mission…

"We'll search for Zabuza's hiding place, and attack then — preferably before Hatake Kakashi recovers. That would give us at least five days. At maximum, seven."

"Are you worried of defeat, Itachi-san?" Kisame's voice carried a hint of amusement.

"Don't be stupid," he said bluntly. "Scatter your snow. Kisame, search for any tracks. Let's go."

The two males disappeared, but the female remained behind. Holding out her right hand, she watched as she molded a hollow snowball with her chakra before she lifted it to her lips and blew softly.

Combined with her manipulation of her Kaze-natured chakra, the snowball crumbled. The snowflakes that swirled inside, imbedded with her chakra, following the wind and flying out of sight.

She let out a small sigh before she disappeared as well.

* * *

 _What an eccentric man_ , the dark haired female thought as she reached for the mask, intending to wipe off the sweat that likely accumulated. In a flash, a hand gripped her wrist, and a dark eye stared at her.

"Who are you?"

"Relax, Kakashi-sensei," Naruto drawled. "That's Tazuna's daughter."

"Ah," he realized, letting go of her wrist. "My apologies…?"

"Tsunami."

"Tsunami-san."

"Don't worry about it; you shinobi are all this way. The dark haired male tried to behead me when I tried to replace his bandages."

Sasuke blanched. "I'm sorry about that…"

"No, no, it's probably a form of defense," Tsunami chuckled. "I must say, thank you for defending my father. He speaks quite highly of the children, Kakashi-san."

Kakashi chuckled, the sound raspy. "Well, they're certainly unique," he replied, taking the glass of water Tsunami handed to him thankfully.

"About that, Kakashi-sensei…" Naruto closed her eyes. "Hinata-san confirmed my suspicions."

The shy Hyuuga next to her spoke up then, "I was reading one of my scrolls and Naruto-chan was right — those senbons didn't kill. They struck a pressure point that caused pretense death for a while, which was more than enough to convince us at the time." She took a deep breath. "The hunter-nin not only carried the heavy form of Zabuza away, he used senbon needles."

Kakashi smiled. "My genin are much smarter than I expected. Everything you said was correct, Hinata. That hunter-nin… He was most likely a pretense one. He saved Zabuza instead of killing him."

"How long will it take for Zabuza to recover?" Sasuke questioned.

"I'd say approximately a week to get to full strength, but just like me, he'll be fine fighting in about five days," Kakashi replied. "Just, obviously, not as well as he can. We'll have to start protecting the bridge on the fifth day, but I think we'll be safe to not expect Zabuza until the seventh."

"Then we have at least five days to train," Sasuke muttered.

"Yes, and that's enough time for a backup team from Konoha to arrive." Kakashi let out a chuckle. "I'm proud of you three. Not only have you performed admirably with your individual skills, your teamwork was flawless."

Naruto smiled. "And Hinata-san's no longer stuttering."

Hinata blushed. "I was so focused on helping you, Naruto-chan, and Sasuke-kun… that I guess… I forgot to be nervous."

"You took down Zabuza's clone," Sasuke pointed out. "I couldn't have done that alone. You're strong, Hinata, and you're only going to grow stronger."

Hinata smiled a shy but determined smile at her teammates. "Yes, and I'm going to try even harder!"

Kakashi smiled.

* * *

 ** _Hinata is a shy person by nature, but I felt that if people she respected and the person she idolized personally encouraged her, she would get over that shyness._**

 ** _Shikamaru's weekend with Naruto was crucial (even if I did jam it into one chapter). It marked the beginning of Naruto's ability to feel again. You might think the change was too quick, but you'll be surprised by how much a couple of acts of kindness can do to somebody who hasn't had that kindness all their life. Shikamaru doesn't realize how much he's changed Naruto already, and Naruto herself doesn't realize it, but the impact is there. Others, like Kakashi, has already noticed the change._**

 ** _Sasuke, from the bell test and his dango snack, likes Naruto. However, he mostly likes Naruto for her strength. He doesn't have any true romantic feelings for her._**

 ** _I've always been annoyed at the maker of Naruto that Sakura was placed on Team Seven. Surrounded by males, she couldn't break out of her fangirl personality until something drastic happens (Sasuke abandoning Konohagakure and nearly killing her other teammate). Even if that was the point, I don't like it. Thus, I placed her in Team Eight with Kurenai as her sensei and pulled Hinata out, inserting her into Team Seven. I do intend to check up on Sakura before the Chuunin Exams, but I'll see where my thoughts lead me._**

 ** _Yuki works with Itachi and Kisame for now. Their trio was chosen for a few reasons. Since their objective was to obtain Momochi Zabuza, Kisame, a fellow member of the Seven Swordsmen, was sent. Itachi was sent because not only is he Kisame's partner in the first place, in the worst case scenario, he could force Zabuza to join via genjutsu. Finally, Yuki was sent because of her ties to Zabuza (her aunt was engaged to him). Things along the storyline will change, especially since I'm dragging Itachi, somebody with extreme emotional impact, into this so quickly._**

 ** _Again, please review (and thank you to those who did review)._**

 ** _Ja ne!_**


	6. What Should I Do?

" _Tousan, what does it mean to be alive?"_

 _The dark haired man glanced down at his two year old daughter in surprise before he smiled. Though she looked like her mother and aunt, inheriting none of his own looks except for his unique, pale blue eyes, her mind was much like his, always asking questions that many wouldn't even consider during their lives._

 _Of course, his genes might not have been the entire reason; the unstable powers of the people around where they lived was a factor as well._

" _Why do you ask that?"_

" _Because of the fighting." Her eyes dimmed. "All of us live now, right? But what's the point of it? We live and we die. What does it mean, then, to have a life?"_

 _He chuckled. "It's complicated, and you'll never understand at your age, but I can tell you one thing."_

 _He crouched, pale blue staring into pale blue._

" _Remember, sweetie, you always have to keep trying. A life is given to you for a reason."_

* * *

"Hokage-sama? You wanted to see me?"

It was rare to see the exuberant man to be calm and formal, but he was also an experienced jounin. He no doubt sensed the tenseness that the Hokage had.

"Yes, I did. Team Seven, Kakashi's team, has ran into some trouble."

"Trouble, Hokage-sama? I thought he was on a C-Rank with his genin team."

"The client lied about the C-Rank. It was boosted to a B-Rank, and later after that, an A-Rank. Usually, even if it's an A-Rank, I wouldn't send backup. I would, perhaps, if it was any of the other two genin teams that passed this year, but not this one. However, it's the person encountered that has forced me to take action."

"The person?"

"Yes. Team Seven encountered Momochi Zabuza as they were escorting their client."

The Hokage could feel the man in front of him tense.

"I want you to take your team…" He paused. "I want you to meet up with Team Ten's instructor, Sarutobi Asuma. The two of you will take your respective genin teams to Nami no Kuni and assist Team Seven."

"Why would you have a fresh genin team go, Hokage-sama?"

Sarutobi let out a sigh, sticking his cigar into his mouth. "I've done many things, and of those many things, I have regretted a large percentage of them."

The jounin in front of him remained quiet, dark eyes narrowed.

"Uzumaki Naruto… I have done so much wrong for the girl. The village needed my help, and I assisted them. But she needed mine, and I didn't. I know more about Naruto than she thinks."

Those eyes began to show confusion; the Hokage was clearly wandering off topic.

"Do not reveal this information to anyone. Kakashi is aware of it, Shikaku is, and I myself am. The Nara Clan has put forth their clan name to back up Uzumaki Naruto."

His eyes widened.

"In doing so, Shikaku essentially binded his son to Uzumaki Naruto. Team Ten has to go along for the sake of both the Nara heir and Naruto-chan."

He nodded, his head spinning. The Hokage's explanation was very vague, and many of it wouldn't make sense at first thought, so he would have to review it again later. "I understand. When do I head off?"

"Now. I'm counting on you."

He nodded. "Of course, Hokage-sama."

* * *

"Sasuke, come back. You're in no shape to continue trying to activate your Sharingan."

The raven haired male growled. For the past two days, he had been trying to activate his Sharingan. Being on the team with Hinata had major benefits; not only did the Hyuuga help him complete and master tree-walking within four hours by using her Byakugan to monitor his chakra levels, she also gave him valuable information about ways a doujutsu may activate. He didn't have the chakra control to push enough chakra to his eyes, or maybe it was just that he hadn't used the Sharingan in so long that it had actually receded, but that didn't matter.

Using Hinata's information on doujutsu in general and the team's collective information about the Sharingan in particular, they've done everything they could to try and activate it. Killing intent that Kakashi fired off for about five minutes at random times before his still recovering body was hit with a wave of exhaustion, a _serious_ spar between him and Hinata that resulted in sore limbs and an aching body for thirty-six hours, training until his chakra stores were so dangerously low that Hinata of all people lectured him for a good half hour…

None of it worked.

"Naruto, I don't get it! Why can't I activate it?!" His frustration finally spilling over the rim, he gripped his raven locks in frustration. "He was able to do it way earlier than my age now! So why can't _I_ activate it?!"

Hinata chose this time to call up, "It's late and you need to recover, Sasuke-san. If you continue this way, you won't be able to defend yourself when the time actually comes—"

She was cut off as Naruto leaned over and whispered something in her ear. She seemed to choke on air.

"N-Naruto-chan, you can't be serious?"

The blonde smirked. Sasuke felt chills run up his spine.

" **I'm perfectly serious.** "

Sasuke's eyes nearly popped. Two seconds ago, Naruto looked perfectly normal, her hood up and her chakra calm.

But now?

The one eye he could see had turned a piercing crimson, the pupil slitted. When she smirked, he saw the white tips of fangs. Even her voice had changed; it was much deeper and sounded much more feral.

He was mildly aware of her elongated, sharp nails when Hinata let out a cry.

 _Shit!_

Naruto was standing where Hinata was, and Hinata was crumpled on the floor. Sasuke hadn't even seen her move.

 _That… That can't be Naruto!_

" **If you want to live, Uchiha, I suggest you fight.** "

A wave of killing intent slammed down on his shoulders, and his knees buckled. He nearly fell off the limb, his breathing ragged. Zabuza and Kakashi had _nothing_ on this killing intent.

Sasuke panicked, sending out a wave of shuriken that was lazily deflected by her fans. The blades continued on their path, slicing the limb he was on away from the tree.

" **You're better than this, Sasuke.** "

His exhausted mind was hit with a rush of adrenaline, forcing his body to flip so that he landed safely on the ground. He had no clue why Naruto was asking like this, or why her eye was red, or why she was clearly intending to fight him to the death, but he did know one thing:

 _He was in deep shit._

Ninja wire flew. Naruto stared at him unnervingly as he combined the wires with kunai, tying them faster than he ever had before.

" **A simple trap will not be enough.** "

He gritted his teeth and bit both ends of the ninja wire between them, his hands speeding through seals as his body strained, desperately grappling at any chakra he had left and could spare without dying.

"Katon! Goukakyuu no Jutsu!"

The clearing exploded.

Sasuke panted with the effort; he was far too thankful to Hinata for regulating his chakra levels, because if he never controlled it properly, he would never have been able to fire off the technique he just did in the state he was in.

He knew Naruto was still alive — she was far too strong to die to a single technique, even if it was a Katon technique that affected her Kaze-natured body more than other elemental techniques, but he didn't know her state. He didn't know how much the technique had affected her.

The smoke cleared.

His heart leapt into his throat.

She was perfectly fine, hardly even a speck of dust on her, still staring at him with those bloodthirsty, slitted pupils.

" **Too bad, Sasuke. It's my turn.** "

He wearily dodged the blade of chakra. And then another. And another.

It was relentless.

He felt his muscles slowing. Every dodge was narrower than the last.

Something scraped another, and his mind quickly placed the familiar noise. Metal had scraped metal —

 _Kunai!_

They sped towards him, and his eyes widened as they neared.

They froze centimeters away from him before poofing into white smoke.

"Huh?"

"Sasuke-san? Are you alright?"

He turned in surprise at the familiar voice. Hinata looked both worried and pleased as she leaned down, her Byakugan switching on automatically as she checked over his body for any internal harm. "Hinata?..."

"That was just acting," the Hyuuga explained, her Byakugan fading once she determined that there was nothing out of line, just major chakra exhaustion. "That was the idea Naruto whispered in my ear… I disapproved of it because it strains her internal body drastically, including her chakra coils."

Understanding began to dawn. "Wait… This whole thing… Was just a pretense situation? She didn't knock you out, and she didn't intend to kill me?"

"Of course not," Naruto deadpanned. A flash of fear shot through him before it turned into relief; her eye was blue again. "If I really wanted to kill you, you wouldn't be fine right now."

"...What was the point of this? I don't feel any changes—"

Naruto raised an eyebrow before she leaned down so that he was staring into the reflective metal of her hitai-ate.

Two crimson orbs stared back at him.

Sasuke barely managed to acknowledge that his eyes were finally displaying the Uchiha's famed Kekkei Genkai before his body finally quit. "Joy…"

He collapsed.

Hinata and Naruto both caught him, the latter smiling amusedly. Hinata glanced at the blonde nervously. "Naruto-chan, when he wakes up, he's going to ask about that chakra. I found out because of the Byakugan, and even then, the only reason I didn't question you was because I was too shy. Even if he doesn't ask now, his Sharingan will tell him eventually that you have another chakra in you alongside your own, and he will most definitely ask then. What are you going to do?"

"I'll tell him the truth," Naruto replied softly. "I trust him."

Hinata stared at her for a moment before she smiled.

* * *

The snowflakes scattered were formed with her own chakra. Unlike the way she had given Naruto her chakra, she can return the chakra of the snowflakes to her once the snowflakes had fulfilled their purpose as little radars. In other words, those snowflakes formed an impromptu chakra spywork that fed information to her brain constantly. Though useful, the constant information had to be limited, so she either had to limit the range or split the information intake with somebody that has her chakra.

Samehada had a portion of her chakra, back when Kisame helped to refine her kenjutsu. Their styles were still drastically different; Kisame relied on power behind his strikes, whereas she was much more graceful and efficient with the two katana she kept on her back.

Naruto had her chakra as well, but she didn't know how to utilize it yet. Everything it does for her currently, such as keep her immune to cold and in the past, weakened the lock of the seal, was all passive abilities of her chakra.

And finally, Leader-sama had a sliver of her chakra, taken from her the moment he realized she had developed such a technique.

Samehada informed Kisame everything, so Kisame had napped the entire day, while she managed the network. Now that the day was gone, though, Kisame took over her post, and his two teammates went to rest.

At least, that was the plan.

She couldn't sleep.

Moving silently so that Itachi wouldn't wake up — he was such a light sleeper than a rustle of a leaf can wake him — she headed away from her teammates. While it was true Samehada and by default Kisame could utilize her snowflakes, unless she had _voluntarily_ given her chakra, the way she had given Naruto hers, the effect was lessened drastically. Samehada didn't even have half the range that she had. Of course, Kisame wasn't aware of this. Not even the leader was.

 _The Yuki boy… And Naruto._

She narrowed her eyes as she picked up pace, safe that Itachi couldn't hear her anymore. As she ran, her thoughts flew out of her head.

And for just a moment, her mind felt peace and bliss.

* * *

Haku almost instantly reached for his hidden senbon when he saw the familiar hoodie, but he restrained himself in time. She was sleeping, and he had no reason to kill her now and set the others on guard.

She slept with her back against the tree, which was no doubt uncomfortable, but it was the most appropriate way to sleep when outside.

 _She sleeps with that hoodie on?_

He gently touched her arm, and her eyes flicked open immediately.

 _What a beautiful shade of blue._

"You'll catch a cold if you sleep out here."

She blinked before she smiled faintly at him. "Hello."

She was surprisingly easy to talk to, her posture welcoming, even if he could tell she was on guard. "My name is Haku."

"Naruto," she nodded back. "It's nice to meet you, Hunter-san."

His eyes widened in shock, reaching for his senbon as he jumped back, the basket of herbs falling to the ground.

"I'm not going to fight you," she muttered. He flinched as she moved, but she only shifted her weight in order to straighten the fallen basket. "I have a question."

He frowned.

"Your chakra… It's similar to her's. Are you a Yuki, Haku-san?"

"...Yes," he replied slowly, letting go of the senbon. He sensed no bad intent coming from her, and besides, what she said confused him. Who was "her", and why was there another person with the Yuki Clan's unique chakra?

"Do you know of another Yuki with white hair and pale blue eyes?"

"I'm the last Yuki," he said, his voice rather hard. Even so, he felt hope rising in him. If he actually had another clan member that was still alive...

"No, you're not. There's another out there. I'm positive she's a Yuki."

"There are shinobi who formed a bastardized version of our Kekkei Genkai," Haku replied. He refused to hold onto that hope if it was going to be yanked away from him. "It's possible she's one of them. Unless she did something only a Yuki could…"

"Such as?"

"The secret techniques of a Yuki, knowledge about the Kekkei Genkai Extermination, or the Mark. But the Mark is limited only to those of the Head Family, the ones descended directly from the original Yuki and those married into said family."

Her head snapped up. "The Mark?"

Haku nodded, briefly forgetting that she was technically an enemy. "My mother posed as a civilian, so I don't know much about my family until Zabuza told me. I'm not sure why Zabuza-sama knows so much about my clan, but from what he said, the Mark is the physical form of when somebody, a Yuki, injects a permanent string of his or her chakra into the person touched."

Naruto felt excitement rise in her, and she opened her mouth to ask another question.

However, at that exact moment, the ray of sunshine broke the trees, and Haku hastily backed away, realizing that he had said far too much.

"I should go."

And just like that, he was gone. Naruto stared at the spot he was in for a moment before she let out a sigh before mumbling under her breath,

"I didn't even get to ask him why he was dressed like a girl…"

* * *

Zabuza stared at Haku out of the corner of his eyes as the boy diligently mixed up herbs. He cared for him, more than he thought, so it was easy for him to notice that Haku's mind was elsewhere. Of course, he mixed the right herbs and with the perfect amounts, but he was doing it subconsciously, with nowhere the amount of energy he usually put into it.

"Haku."

His head jolted up in surprise. "Zabuza-sama?"

"What are you thinking about?"

His head dipped for a moment, and Zabuza knew that he was debating whether to bother him with his problems or not. The missing-nin waited for him to reply; he always responded, no matter what.

"Zabuza-sama… Why do you know so much about the Yuki?"

He blinked. Of all the things he might have expected, that hadn't been one of them. Back when he first told Haku about his clan and Kekkei Genkai, the boy had asked the same question. He had refused to answer, and Haku never asked about it again—

Until now, that is.

A part of him wanted to refuse to answer again. Half-hearted reasons… No, excuses ran through his mind — He was too young, it was none of his concern…

But Haku was now a teenager, a seasoned fighter and shinobi, which marked him as an adult regardless of age, and had remained loyal to him all this time. He deserved answers.

"Do you know why I wanted to kill the Yondaime Mizukage, Haku?"

Haku blinked. He had always followed Zabuza's orders, fighting alongside him against the Mizukage and fleeing with him when Zabuza realized the battle was lost, but he had never really questioned his motive. "Because you didn't like his reign?"

"I may be called a demon, Haku, but I have a heart. I did it because of two reasons in one. He exterminated people with Kekkei Genkai, thus wiping out the Yuki Clan, and leaving you as an orphan. But before I even met you, he committed a greater sin to me."

Haku blinked again. "Zabuza-sama?"

"The Yuki Clan was an amazing clan, composed mostly of deadly front-line fighters, but there were a number of support shinobi and medical shinobi. Regardless, when the Mizukage began to target those with a Kekkei Genkai, the clan knew that it wasn't enough. The Yuki Clan divided into two parts. One part fought. The other part posed as civilians, the way your mother did."

Haku listened intently as Zabuza continued,

"The ones who stayed to fight consisted primarily of a few families. At the very core of those families was the family of the Clan Head."

"The Clan Head?"

Zabuza nodded. "Yuki Ryū and Yukiko. Yukiko had an older sibling, a sister named Koyuki. That sister was who I was engaged to."

Haku's eyes widened.

"Koyuki was my everything. She kept me going. And simply because I loved her and she loved me, the Yuki Clan Head accepted me. Koyuki only asked me one favor: to always take care of her niece."

"Her niece?"

"Her niece, or the heiress of the clan. Koyuki never harbored jealousy that it was her sister that was married into the Head Family; she loved her sister too much for that. She wanted me to always protect her little sister's daughter."

"Who is she?" Haku questioned.

"When she was born, I had already dated Koyuki for two years," Zabuza continued, as though as he didn't hear Haku, "and I was named as her godfather by Koyuki's sister. I did my best to act like a second father. But…"

Haku frowned slightly before his eyes widened. "The Mizukage…"

"The Yuki Clan split when she was three years old. At that time, I was engaged to Koyuki. I begged her to split away and pretend to be a civilian, but she refused to abandon her sister when she and her husband were fighting."

"And…?"

"The ones who stayed, almost the entirety of the clan, were killed. I thought it was over. Koyuki was dead. I saw her that day, chakra burns over her arms and wounds everywhere; she had assisted her sister and her husband with fighting the Mizukage." Zabuza's mouth quirked into a small smile. "But one person survived."

"One person?"

"The heiress. My goddaughter. She was the only survivor; she hadn't evacuated when she was supposed to. Though young, she knew something was wrong, and she didn't want to leave her parents and aunt because of that. She witnessed the entire massacre. And in that day, she grew up too fast. She realized everything, how cruel this world can be. I wanted to take her in, and I did, hiding her from the Mizukage for quite a few years. When she was seven, she was gone. Shortly after that, I found you."

Haku stared in shock as a tear slipped down Zabuza's face. "Because of that Kekkei Genkai extermination, I lost my lover and wife-to-be, the family that accepted me despite my past, and my goddaughter. More than that, I broke the only promise my love had me make. I presume my goddaughter is dead now."

Haku took a deep breath. "What did she look like?"

"Her aunt and mother's white hair, her father's pale blue eyes. Her mother's snowy white skin. She was a beautiful child."

Haku asked his final question, his thoughts transferring to a certain blonde shinobi as he realized that she knew more, information that Zabuza would want. "What was her name?"

"Setsumi. Her name was Yuki Setsumi."

* * *

"Where have you been?"

Itachi's blood-red eyes did little to scare her. "I was out for a run."

His eyes stared at her for a few seconds longer before he determined that she was telling the truth. "According to Kisame, your snowflakes haven't scattered far enough to detect Zabuza. In fourteen minutes, his shift will end."

She nodded.

Itachi's Sharingan shut off, but his searching gaze remained. "What are you thinking about?"

For just a moment, his voice was softer and more compassionate, and she felt a flash of how he was deep inside. Itachi, just like her, had seen too much and experienced too much, but unlike her, Itachi was gentle. He was a pacifist; he shouldn't have ever become a ninja. For that, she scorned the Sandaime Hokage.

He forced Itachi into something somebody of his nature shouldn't do.

Itachi waited patiently as thoughts ran through her head.

Memories flashed through her — the deaths, the kills, the blood that stained her hands day after day, week after week, month after month.

Year after year.

The few genuine smiles aimed at her that kept her going.

The kindness her most precious person had shown her.

"'Tachi-kun," she whispered, struggling not to break down as the weight of everything slammed down on her fifteen year old shoulders. Itachi didn't even blink at the nickname; she only used it when she needed comfort. It had been much more common when she was first recruited into Akatsuki. "The Yuki…"

"Is he reminding you about everything?"

She nodded painfully. "He's still so young, but already so skilled for his age. He's only a year or so younger than me, 'Tachi! Is this what my clan is doomed to? Every one of the few survivors that may be out there, turned into a killing machine?! Look at how he turned out!" Her voice broke. "Look at how _I_ turned out…"

He waited, knowing she wasn't done.

"And Naruto — I wasn't planning on revealing myself to her so early on! She knows nothing about the Akatsuki; if she discovers I'm the Akatsuki after she meets you today, all my attempts to give her a better path of life would be meaningless." She paused. "And to top it all off, your little brother's here!"

Itachi let out a sigh. "You're trying to do too much."

"What?"

"You're in Akatsuki, and because of that, you have to follow instructions. Leader-sama's orders were to recruit Zabuza, and if he refuses, to kill him. You know you have to follow his orders, but you don't want to kill the person who was going to be your uncle-in-law.

"Then complications arose further when you saw his companion. The male is a Yuki, and due to his loyalty to Zabuza, if Zabuza refuses, he would be killed as well. If Zabuza obeys, which is highly unlikely, there's a chance he'll be killed anyway; for Leader-sama, one Yuki is enough.

"You found out the genin team assigned to protect the bridge-builder was the worst one for us. Hatake Kakashi, who let Zabuza go and is no doubt expecting a match against him again. Hyuuga Hinata is not of major concern, but is nevertheless a threat if not handled properly, even to us. Uzumaki Naruto, the person you blessed with the Yuki Mark, who you didn't intend to reveal yourself to so early on. And finally, Uchiha Sasuke, my own little brother, who you know affects my feelings and thus affects yours."

He watched as she took in his recount of everything that had been stressing her out, not surprised when she bit her lip hard enough to draw blood.

"What am I supposed to do, 'Tachi?"

Her voice was softer than usual and she sounded like she was about to cry. The seventeen year old's onyx eyes softened as he walked up to her. Picking her up effortlessly, he sat down, back against a tree, and put her down close to him.

"It's okay to cry sometimes."

He had taken off his cloak earlier; it was uncomfortable to sleep with so many layers on, so when she buried her head into his chest, the tears were felt through his clothing almost immediately. It didn't take long, though, until the quiet sobbing faded away, and Itachi put his arm around her, pulling her closer.

"Kisame."

His blue-skinned teammate stepped out of the shadows of the tree, his beady eyes lit with genuine worry for the girl. "Is she alright?"

"I don't know. Will you be able to continue holding watch?"

"I should."

"Do you need chakra?"

"That would be preferable."

Itachi held out his hand, and Kisame let Samehada huddle over, leeching off Itachi's chakra. It didn't dare take any of the Yuki's uncontrolled chakra, though, in fear that it would freeze it inside out.

"Thanks, Itachi. Take care of her."

Itachi nodded as he walked away. Despite the fact they had their ups and downs, Akatsuki was still fairly tight. After working with each other and cut off from everyone else from the world for so long, the Akatsuki knew their teammates much better than most of those dubbed "best friends". Their teams were especially close; he knew that Sasori and Deidara had more than just a teammate affair going on, and his team was the most confusing yet most caring one. They cared for each other more than they usually showed; even Kisame, who originally only held respect for Itachi, grew to worry about their female teammate.

He let out a sigh before speaking to the asleep girl despite knowing that she wouldn't hear him. "You wish to help Uzumaki Naruto, but sometimes, I wish your life could be helped most…

"Sumi-chan."

* * *

 _ **It's been a while since I last updated; school's been exhausting (if any of you go to a school with ten floors, I think you'd agree when I say that running up seven floors within four minutes isn't the best idea).**_

 _ **This chapter is actually shorter than a couple before it, but it has the information I wanted to introduce. I actually rewrote this multiple times, but my brain hasn't been cooperative, so it's not really conveying everything I want it to convey. If anyone has tips about how to reveal more emotion and express more feelings through writing, please, please, PLEASE review. I can really use the help.**_

 ** _I'm sure I'm not the only one who thinks this way; I do not believe Akatsuki's a group of hardened criminals who care nothing about each other. Kisame and Itachi, in my opinion, was the most caring duo in the Akatsuki next to Konan and Pein. Which is really odd, since Itachi's the one who killed his family and Kisame's a shark-like guy who likes to see opponents bleed by shredding them to pieces._**

 ** _I was quite eager to write this chapter, partially because I'm going into the big stuff, and partially because I won't have to refer to Yuki as "she" anymore. It was painful trying to move around her name; I could refer to her as Yuki in the notes here, but I couldn't in the story because that's not her first name. Itachi and Kisame, who both refer to each other by their first name, shouldn't be calling her Yuki; it doesn't make sense._**

 ** _She's young. Yes, she's skilled, especially for her age. Is she a Mary Sue? Heavens no. She'll be able to take care of herself, she'll be able to kick ass when she has to, but she most certainly would not be a two-year old prodigy who knows everything about everyone anywhere anytime. It gets boring writing about that, anyway. The flashback in the beginning only shows one thing: She's been insecure ever since she was young. Growing up in wartime can do that to somebody._**

 ** _Well, I've rambled on for quite a while now. I'll update again whenever I can, so to those who put this story on their Follow List and Favorite List, thank you, and I hope you'll continue reading my story._**

 ** _Ja ne!_**


	7. A Family

_We're going after a little girl?"_

 _Their leader didn't even blink at the incredulous question. "She's likely the last of the Yuki Clan of Kirigakure, Kisame. She will be useful."_

 _Kisame didn't bother suppressing his disbelief. "But she's seven years old! What kind of fighting would she be able to participate in without dying? A kid brawl?"_

" _Kisame," his partner intoned, "Leader-sama wants us to retrieve her because we will be the ones training her."_

 _Kisame blanched. "I — we have to teach a bratty little girl?"_

 _The leader seemed to sigh. "If you remain disbelieving of her potential, I think you should know that she is Momochi Zabuza's goddaughter."_

 _Kisame seemed to choke on air, eyes bugging before he said in an oddly strangled voice, "Z-Zabuza? That brat who wields Kubikiribocho? The one who's ego inflated tremendously after slaughtering everyone at the academy?"_

" _He's only three years younger than you," Itachi muttered. Usually, he wouldn't point that out, but he felt a headache coming on. "Yes, that Zabuza."_

" _Zabuza is a_ godfather _?!"_

" _Yes," Pein confirmed. "Zabuza likely assumes she is dead. She has previous knowledge of stealth and kenjutsu from Zabuza, and knows how to use her Kekkei Genkai, but that's pretty much it. She isn't of any threat. And she is most certainly not a… bratty little girl."_

 _Kisame let out a sigh, defeated, as he tried to figure out why anyone in their right mind would make that crazy psychopath a godfather. "Where is she?"_

" _Thirty minutes south from here," Pein replied. "Bring her back alive."_

 _Kisame nodded. "Will do."_

* * *

"Alright. Your Sharingan seems to be fine, no matter how drastic Naruto's method was, and your body's quickly adjusting to it's skills." Kakashi was up and walking again, though he was told by Tsunami half a dozen times not to push himself.

Not that he really listened; Tsunami was estimating the body limits of a civilian, not one of a seasoned shinobi.

Sasuke nodded, though for once, his mind wasn't focused on the prospect of growing stronger. Of course, he hadn't been focusing on that much anymore anyway, but it had always been there. For the first time in years, though, that thought was completely disregarded.

"Kakashi-sensei, I want to ask you a question."

Kakashi's one visible eye remained as disinterested as ever as the jounin lazily turned a page in the obnoxious, orange covered book. Sasuke's eye twitched; how long does he make a book last?!

"Yeah?"

"Naruto… Why does she have two other chakras within her?"

Kakashi's book snapped closed, but Sasuke didn't even flinch, his onyx eyes narrowed at his sensei.

For his part, Kakashi had completely forgotten. Naruto's skills were still an enigma to him; she had shown the barest of her unique skills to satisfy his curiosity, but she didn't reveal anything else. For example, he didn't know why she knew the forbidden technique of Tajuu Kage Bunshin, or how she managed to figure out how to conserve more chakra while powering her fan techniques (though he had a sneaking suspicion that the Nara Clan Head had something to do with it), or why she suddenly had an urge to develop a hybrid seal to keep her fans attached to her (again, he had a feeling…).

However, he did know enough to realize that Naruto, despite being strong, was strong with her own skills. She didn't need the tenant within her to power her constant strikes; no, the chakra used was completely and wholly hers.

Thus, over time, his wariness of her chakra levels lessened and he had forgotten that the quiet girl even had a demon within her. Her soft-spoken words, quick thinking mind, and generally nice personality had _made_ him forget.

Which was why he had forgotten that Sasuke's Sharingan showed everything in that girl.

"I cannot answer that, Sasuke," he answered truthfully. Seeing his eyes narrow, he added, "You can always ask her yourself. If she trusts you enough, she'll speak."

"...Alright." Kakashi raised an eyebrow as Sasuke looked away; he hadn't expected Sasuke to give in so easily.

Naruto was doing a lot of good for him, and Sasuke didn't even realize it. Those two were really quite similar…

" _Hokage-sama. Did you hold me back because you wanted to know what I thought of them?"_

" _Of course, Kakashi-kun. Tell me."_

" _From what I've seen, Naruto and Sasuke can work together well, but Sakura will only hold them back. It's not going to work out, Hokage-sama."_

Kakashi's one visible eye closed briefly as he stowed his book away.

" _What do you think, Kakashi?"_

" _They're brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. Sasuke isn't hell bent on revenge and power — excuse the language — anymore, whereas Naruto has finally began to open up. Hinata is meek and shy, which will have to change, but overall…_

" _I can't ask for a better team."_

"I'm going to go rest; it's the fourth day, and tomorrow, we have to start protecting the bridge. My time for recovering is running out."

Sasuke gave a jerk of a nod as Kakashi walked back into the house, his analytical eyes noting how his stride was strained and his muscles were jerky.

"Trust, huh?"

"Sasuke-san?"

"You heard everything, right?"

Hinata nodded. "I just… When you ask Naruto-chan, don't sound so demanding, or she'll become defensive."

"I won't. I'll talk to her later." He paused briefly before muttering in a genuine tone, "Thank you, Hinata."

The Hyuuga nodded. "Sasuke-san, do you want to test your doujutsu against mine?"

The Uchiha smirked, his eyes bleeding red.

* * *

Kakashi froze right after he slipped onto the futon.

 _Did Sasuke say two_ other _chakra? As in she has three different chakra in her?_

* * *

Haku hesitantly waited on the sidelines, watching as one tree after another was demolished. He had wandered back to where she trained without even realizing it, and he didn't know what to do now.

She made the choice for him as she snapped her fans shut. "Haku-san?"

His mind shut down as he blurted out, "I spoke to Zabuza-sama, and that girl you talked about…"

"Yes?"

"I think… She's the heiress of my clan."

He proceeded to explain everything Zabuza told him, and by the end of it, his voice was raspy and Naruto was nodding.

"Why do you know her?"

Naruto paused for a moment before her hand moved over her face, lifting the spiky bangs out of the way.

Haku's eyes widened as they followed the intertwining light blue and white tendrils down her face and neck.

"She… Gave you a Mark?"

"What does it do?" Naruto inquired. "From what I've seen, all it does it keep me warm."

"That's because those of the Yuki Clan are immune to cold," Haku replied. "Our chakra, when quicker, burns more energy and produces heat. Yuki chakra doesn't need that natural cause; they are unique. When she gave you that Mark, you gained a characteristic of the Yuki Clan." He paused. "Every Mark has their own properties; my Mark would be different from her's. Every Mark essentially means that Yuki had blessed you, but I don't know what it'll do. I'm sorry."

Naruto shrugged, brushing off his apology. "Haku-san, will you be able to convince Zabuza not to fight us?"

Haku bowed his head. As he spoke with Naruto, as he spent time with her, he found himself more and more unwilling to hurt her. But… "I don't know. Zabuza-sama doesn't…"

"What if he finds out his goddaughter is alive?"

Haku's head jerked upwards, his mind racing. Currently, only he and Naruto knew about the fact that _she_ was still alive. Zabuza assumed she was dead, but perhaps, if he knew she was alive…

Maybe he would quit the job Gatou gave him?

"I don't know," Haku repeated, admitting it grimly. Zabuza could very well not believe him, or worse, think that he was betraying him. He stood up, glancing at the sky. "It's about time for me to go."

"Haku-san… If you can't find a way to convince him not to fight, we can try again when he fights us."

Haku nodded, hesitating before muttering, "Thank you, Naruto," and disappearing, snatching up his basket of herbs as he went.

* * *

"Kakashi-sensei, are you going to be fine by tomorrow?"

Kakashi nodded at Hinata. "I've healed; my body's just trying to adjust to being able to move again. I'm just a bit stiff, that's all. But never mind that; how have your training been coming along? I know Sasuke activated his Sharingan, but that's it."

"I've been sparring with Sasuke-san," Hinata replied first, "to strengthen his doujutsu and my own taijutsu style. However… Kakashi-sensei, I have a small problem with my taijutsu style."

Kakashi raised an eyebrow. "The Juuken? What's wrong with it?"

"The Juuken… Doesn't feel right," Hinata admitted, balling up her fists between her thighs as she ducked her head. "It feels too rough and rigid."

Kakashi frowned slightly as he tried to remember what he had been told about the Juuken. "The Juuken… If I remember correctly, it's defined as a Hyūga Clan systematic taijutsu style that incorporates chakra… I don't see why —"

Sasuke's head jerked up at the word "chakra". "Kakashi-sensei, I have an idea."

"Yes, Sasuke?"

"The Foukasuken, the Uchiha's traditional taijutsu style, it oriented around two things — the Sharingan and the focus of the chakra, which is where it got its name. The Uchiha Clan was almost all primarily Hi-natured, and our taijutsu style was developed to reflect that. Perhaps the Juuken has the same requirement?"

Kakashi's eyes widened slightly. "That's very possible. The Hyuuga's taijutsu style could orient around the Byakugan and a particular nature of chakra. If Hinata has a different nature, that would explain why she has difficulties using it. Of course, she _can_ use it; it just won't be as efficient or powerful as it can be."

"Then what should I do, Kakashi-sensei?" Hinata inquired.

Kakashi let out a grunt. "Sometime today, the backup teams from Konohagakure should arrive. Among one of the teams is Konoha's taijutsu specialist; he himself has a Hyuuga on his team. He can probably help — Hinata? What's wrong?"

Naruto reached out and shook the rapidly paling Hinata. "Hinata-san?"

Hinata took a deep breath. "I-Is the taijutsu specialist, by any chance, M-Maito Gai-san?"

Kakashi's eyebrows shot up. "You know Gai?"

"Th-The Hyuuga on his t-team is m-my cousin," Hinata whispered. Kakashi frowned quizzically, whereas Sasuke and Naruto both raised an eyebrow. Hinata had been pretty much stutter-free for days now, so they found it odd she was back to her old, scared self.

"Is there something wrong with that?" Kakashi asked gently.

"N-Neji-niisan h-hates me," Hinata admitted. "H-He hates th-the entire M-Main Family, b-because he's a B-Branch member…"

Kakashi blinked before he remembered — Hyuuga Neji was the one Gai said had the most problems despite being the most skilled. "I see…"

"Hinata, don't worry," Naruto assured her. "We won't let him hurt you, and we'll smack sense into him if he's rude towards you."

Hinata stared in surprise before a small smile lit up her face. "Th-Thank you, Naruto-chan…"

"Hn. No Hyuuga's going to hurt my teammate," Sasuke muttered, looking away from his teammates when Naruto's mouth twitched.

Hinata's smile grew. "Thank you, Sasuke-san."

Kakashi couldn't help but smile at his team. They really were too awesome.

"Well, I've heard about what Hinata's been up to, and I know what Sasuke's been doing. What about you, Naruto?"

Naruto paused. "I've been working on my fans," she replied. "I don't think I can get my attacks any quicker at my current level, but the seal has almost been completed."

His interest spiked, Kakashi asked, "Can I see?"

Naruto handed him her fans in reply, and Kakashi turned it to gaze at the lightweight metal guards. The almost completed seal was stuck to it, and Kakashi pulled it off, setting down the fans and lifting the seal closer to his face to observe it.

Like most seals, the design was in a circle, the simplest way to unify the parts of a seal. At the very center was the symbol for Kaze, which Kakashi understood immediately; by synchronizing the type of chakra used in the seal with the type the object used, it multiplied the speed of the seal.

He had to squint to see the smaller kanji swirling around the symbol Kaze, but when he did see them, his heart nearly stopped.

 _Those seals…_

His mind raced. He didn't know whether Naruto knew or not, but those seals were of _another_ seal, not the basic Shunshin-based seal, but one that was very, _very_ well known by name but not by eye.

A seal that few recognized by eye and only one knew how to make.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

Naruto's slightly confused voice snapped him out of his dazed thoughts, and his eye crinkled in a smile at Naruto before it went back to stare at the seal.

He knew Naruto was skilled, but even without the realization of the other seal incorporated, that hybrid seal was complicated, and extremely so. Every part had another branch, and every branch had another link. It multiplied and every multiplied piece multiplied, forming a complex system in the black ink.

No book in the library on fuuinjutsu could have possibly taught her even half of this much.

"Naruto. Where did you learn all of this?"

"What do you mean?"

 _She's cautious._ "This hybrid seal contains things no book in Konohagakure would have offered you. Where did you learn them?"

Naruto let out a small sigh. "I have the world's most complex seal on my body and have had it since my first day in this world. Do you really think I have to rely on books in the library to gain knowledge about fuuinjutsu?"

Kakashi paled. Naruto reached over, taking back the fans and the seal. "Is this satisfactory for your inquiring?"

Snapping out of his daze, he nodded.

Sasuke looked from Kakashi to Naruto before he said, "I have a question."

Both turned to look at him.

"Naruto, why—"

"DYNAMIC ENTRY!"

All three genin instinctively jumped into battle position — Sasuke reaching for his shuriken, Naruto for her fans, and Hinata slipping into the Juuken stance.

Kakashi let out a sigh as he relaxed. "Calm down, it's just —"

"HELLO, KAKASHI! YOU'RE NOT LOOKING YOUTHFUL AT ALL TODAY!"

"Maito Gai," Kakashi finished.

"Kakashi! Is this your genin team?"

Hinata appeared to have gone into shock at the view of the green spandex; it was clear it was her first time specifically meeting Maito Gai. Sasuke, however, with nowhere as much tact as Hinata, didn't, and stated his disbelief quite bluntly. " _This_ is Konoha's taijutsu specialist?"

"Lessen on the disbelief," Kakashi reprimanded lightly. _No matter how much I agree with you sometimes._

"You must be Uchiha Sasuke!" Sasuke unwillingly took a step back as another green spandex wearing male jumped in front of him. "My name is Rock Lee, Konoha's Handsome Devil, and you, Uchiha Sasuke, are my youthful eternal rival!"

Sasuke felt goosebumps riding on his skin. Naruto noted that, but she was more concerned with something else —

Like that male in the back with his face contorted in anger.

"Sasuke," she whispered urgently, and Sasuke snapped to attention.

He didn't even need to ask what was wrong. He could feel the angry gaze on him, and he could see the area Hinata appeared to be desperately not looking at.

Gai, apparently, also saw that, and so he beamed a huge, blinding smile as he dragged his remaining two genin to the front. The female wore an expression of exasperation, whereas the Hyuuga was still angrily glaring at Hinata.

"I am Maito Gai, Konoha's Noble Green Beast! These are my students. Rock Lee has introduced himself, and this is Higurashi TenTen and Hyuuga Neji."

Naruto's head jerked. "Higurashi?"

TenTen blinked. "Um… Yes? Why? Is there something wrong—"

She blinked in surprise as Naruto dipped her head gratefully. "Please pass my thanks to your father, TenTen-san."

TenTen remained confused, but she was never one to refuse praise, "Uh… Sure?"

Neji's cold gaze never left Hinata, and Hinata never looked into said gaze. Naruto let out a small sigh before she nudged Hinata gently, giving her a pointed look.

"H-Hello, Neji-niisan," she offered timidly, and she shrunk back as Neji's glare intensified.

"Hinata-sama." His voice was like ice.

"Troublesome…"

Naruto's eyes widened at the familiar tone as she leaned to the side, gazing around Gai's team. "Shikamaru? I didn't know you were coming too!"

"Hello, Naruto," the Nara muttered. "You alright?"

"I'm fine," Naruto assured him. "What about you? You look exhausted."

"We ran the entire day," Shikamaru began, "because—"

"Because those spandex weirdos insisted on a race!" the female of Team Ten spat. Naruto blinked as she recognized the platinum blonde — Yamanaka Ino.

"Don't be mean, Ino," the final genin of lectured, though the effect was lost as he stuffed chip after chip in his mouth.

Ino let out a huff, and the jounin sensei for Team Ten let out a sheepish chuckle.

"Kakashi, you doing fine?"

"Better. I might've died if it wasn't for my genin," Kakashi admitted, slightly embarrassed.

Team Ten's sensei snorted in amusement before he turned to Team Seven. "My name's Sarutobi Asuma. I'm the jounin sensei for Team Ten — the one eating chips is Chouji, the female Ino, and finally, Shikamaru. It's nice to meet Kakashi's team."

"My name's Hyuuga Hinata. It's nice to meet you," she stated, bowing slightly, polite as ever. Naruto simply dipped her head, and Sasuke didn't bother doing even that.

"I'm Uzumaki Naruto."

"Uchiha Sasuke." Abruptly, the onyx eyed male turned to Naruto. "We should continue training before it becomes too dark for that."

Naruto's eyes seemed to lit up. "Oh… True. Hinata, are you coming? I wanted to ask you for help in something."

Hinata nodded quickly, practically vaulting herself out the door. Sasuke shot a glare at the still glaring Hyuuga male before following her out. Naruto glanced briefly at Neji, then at Shikamaru, and then headed out as well.

Lee remained quiet for a moment before turning to Neji. "Neji, did you have to glare at Hinata-san the whole time? She clearly doesn't want to hurt you in any way, and if anything, she appears scared of you."

"What she has done is not something that can be forgiven," Neji snarled.

Gai let out a small sigh, unnoticed by none but Kakashi and Asuma.

"Gai-sensei, can I fight Sasuke?" Lee asked eargerly.

"Later this evening," Gai suggested, "we can have a tournament of sorts, taijutsu-only."

"That sounds nice," Asuma agreed.

Kakashi didn't say anything; if his team refused, they refused. He wouldn't force them into fighting when he knew they were capable of it.

For a moment, all was silent. Then, Rock Lee shouted,

"NEJI! I CHALLENGE YOU TO A MATCH!"

* * *

"The chakra runs downwards," Hinata told Naruto as her eyes tracked the movement of the chakra blade.

"So it's not solid. Not entirely. It's not a big difference, but I'm losing a little of my chakra every time I attack." Naruto let out a small sigh. "Hinata, do you have any tips?"

Hinata bit her lip as she tried to think. "Right now, you release chakra into the fan, using the fan to direct the chakra, right? Maybe you can move the fan differently when you swing it."

Naruto took a deep breath before she lifted the fan, swiping it horizontally in front of her. The horizontal blade wedged into the tree, nearly cutting right through it, before it disappeared.

"I lost power…"

"That won't work," Sasuke muttered, his Sharingan activated. "Your chakra's even more uncontrolled when you swing horizontally."

Naruto let out a small growl when a voice offered from behind her,

"Have you tried forming a blade by conjoining two?"

Naruto turned, surprised for the second time by the same person in the same hour. "Shikamaru?"

"Yo," he greeted, tipping a wave to Sasuke, who had tensed considerably, and Hinata, who nodded back.

Sasuke ground out, "What are you doing here, Shikamaru?"

"Ino was being troublesome, so I left them," the Nara heir replied. "I sensed Naruto's chakra spike, so I decided to follow her trail."

Hinata hastily turned the conversation to another topic, sensing Sasuke's growing agitation, even if she didn't know why. "What did you mean, conjoin two, Shikamaru-san?"

"Like you said, Naruto forms those blades by releasing chakra through her fans," Shikamaru began, leaning against a tree. "Because she used those fans as a base, she can only focus on the part of the blade that first exits the fan, which is how she creates that slicing effect. But if she used two bases, she might be able to control the formulation of the chakra blade."

Naruto blinked slightly as she took in that theory before she lifted both fans. In seconds, the blade had formed, and with two simultaneous flicks, it was sent flying, cutting through the trees like they were butter.

"There was no lag," Hinata observed.

"But it takes more time and energy," Naruto muttered. "At that rate, I might as well just keep losing a bit of chakra every time I strike." Inwardly, she groaned — another problem with her fighting style to deal with.

Shikamaru shrugged. "Nothing good comes without a price."

Naruto let out a sigh before she stowed her fans away. "Did you hear about what happened on this mission?"

"Of course; we came here, didn't we?" Shikamaru frowned slightly. "I don't understand why Momochi Zabuza is here performing dirty work for a business pig, but I do know that it means there's going to be a fight, so here we are. Team Nine and Ten at your service."

Sasuke let out a small huff before he stood up. "I don't see why Team Ten was ordered to come here. You're just a bunch of rookies consisting of a useless fangirl, a fatass, and a lazyass. The useless one's probably going to scream the moment she sees blood."

Shikamaru, for the first time Naruto had ever seen, shot a murderous glare at Sasuke. "Look, Uchiha, I don't see why you have a problem with me, but Team Ten is not useless. We might be rookies, but so are you. Ino isn't one of your fangirls and hasn't been for years, Chouji is an essential part of the Ino-Shika-Cho formation and his weight is a standard part of every Akimichi, and while I admit that I am lazy, I am also perfectly capable of taking you down. My mind is more strategic than yours will ever be."

Sasuke smirked. "You? Take me down? Dream on, lazyass. You can't take me down."

"Watch your mouth, Uchiha," Shikamaru spat.

"Sasuke, stop it! Shikamaru, I'm sorry." Shooting a glare at Sasuke, the Uchiha backed down, and Naruto continued, "I don't know what it is with you two! You've talked maybe… Twice?... and you're acting like long-time enemies!"

Sasuke let out a small huff before turning away.

"Sorry," Shikamaru apologized, though he was still glaring daggers at Sasuke. "I don't let others insult my team and get away with it so easily."

"He's sorry," Naruto stated. " _Right_ , Sasuke?"

"Hn."

Deciphering it as a "Whatever", Naruto let out a sigh. "I'm going to head back. The day's half over."

Hinata followed Naruto, and Shikamaru followed Hinata seconds later. Sasuke didn't, staring instead at the sky before growling and slamming a fist into the tree in front of him.

 _That Nara… How dare he act like that? All buddy-buddy with Naruto…_

He gritted his teeth as his inner voice chasted,

 _Sasuke, Sasuke. Uchiha do not get jealous so easily!_

* * *

"A taijutsu-only match? Doesn't this give Team Nine the clear advantage?"

Kakashi shrugged in response to Shikamaru's deadpan, accurate inquiry. "Gai was the one who wanted this tournament; he set the rules."

"If it's taijutsu-only, I'm not interested," Shikamaru grunted. _Like I'm just gonna sit around and get my ass kicked by Team Ten..._

"How about this — a team fight, anything allowed?"

Asuma raised an eyebrow. "Kakashi, my team is the Ino-Shika-Cho formation. Do you really think they'll lose in a fight of teamwork?"

Kakashi let out a snort, burying his nose further into his book. "I have faith in my team."

Gai suddenly let out a scream, "YES! KAKASHI HAS HIS YOUTHFUL SPARK BACK! WE SHALL ENGAGE IN FIGHTS OF TEAMWORK!"

"A three-way beat-down? I like it." Sasuke's eyes seemed to glitter in anticipation.

TenTen chuckled as she lifted a kunai. "This is my realm of expertise — multiple opponents!"

"When do we start?" Ino asked.

"Now."

The blunt statement from Kakashi took a few seconds to settle in, but as soon as it did, all three genin teams jumped up and back, creating distance. Chouji, Neji, and Hinata stood in the front of their respective teams, each one with muscles tense.

"Naruto," Sasuke muttered out of the side of his mouth. "Are your clones in place?"

Naruto nodded slightly. "They are; two behind each of the teams. I'll create more regularly as to not raise Neji's suspicion too quickly."

"Good. Shikamaru and Neji are both too cautious to attack first, so we'll take the initiative. Aim for Rock Lee."

Hinata frowned slightly, muttering out of the corner of her mouth, "Why him?"

"He's a taijutsu specialist, right? My Sharingan will be the most ineffective against him, so we should take him out first." Sasuke paused. "You haven't mastered your defense either, so you won't be able to block his strikes."

"Glad to see you're actually thinking, Sasuke," Naruto muttered quietly, causing the raven haired male to shoot an indignant glare at her. "But alright. Watch for the wind."

Neji frowned as he observed Team Seven. "They're plotting something."

"Should we attack first, Neji-san?" Lee questioned.

"No. Wait and see… I think Team Seven's claimed the first move."

And that they did.

Seconds later the last word left his mouth, he jumped to the side, avoiding a speedy, light chakra blade. His Byakugan narrowed as he strained to analyze the attack as Lee jumped out of the way of another.

"LEE! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!"

The blade exploded, and Lee backflipped out of the smoke, looking none for wear other than the fact his clothing was dirtied, his eyes narrowed dangerously. "That was Uchiha Sasuke, wasn't it?"

"TenTen!"

TenTen didn't need Neji to explain further as she whipped out a string thread along kunai and shuriken. Yanking the string out, she sent the dozen weapons flying, cancelling out the dozen shuriken that flew their way.

"Kage Mane no Jutsu!"

Neji jumped as Shikamaru's shadow missed him. His Byakugan straining to see the soul that escaped Ino's body, he shouted, "Lee!"

"On it!"

In one swift motion, Lee had grabbed Neji's leg, pulling him down and away from the Yamanaka technique. Ino's body slumped, Shikamaru's shadow retreated, and Chouji let out a huff.

"Why are we the ones targeted?" TenTen whined as she continued deflecting the weapons. There weren't anything special about the weapons, so she assumed it was Naruto; Hinata didn't seem to use weapons if she fought with any resemblance to Neji and Sasuke, as an Uchiha, should be much more diverse and complicated with his weapon based attacks.

"Because you have a year of experience on us," a low, masculine voice muttered from behind her.

Neji's eyes widened — he had been too preoccupied with Team Ten.

"TENTEN! DUCK!"

The kunoichi ducked without even thinking at her teammate's warning, and good thing she did, because she narrowly missed getting hit on the head. Though incapable of defending herself in her resulting position, she didn't need to; by the time the first strike had hit, Lee had made it to her position and engaged Sasuke.

"This is over for you, Uchiha!"

To his surprise, Sasuke didn't even bother dodging. His eyes registered a poof somewhere, but he moved into position nonetheless, entirely focused on Sasuke's chakra points.

Needless to say, he was surprised when he struck orange instead.

He jumped backwards, watching as Naruto fell to the ground. His eyes narrowed — it didn't make sense Naruto would put herself out of commission so quickly —

She let out a small "oh!" and poofed into smoke.

Neji's eyes widened in shock. That was a solid Bunshin, one capable of confusing his Byakugan! Narrowing his eyes, he strained his Kekkei Genkai further —

Sure enough, there were numerous other chakra signatures littered around them.

"Lee, TenTen, regroup."

Lee looked confused, but he obeyed anyway, planting a solid kick to Sasuke's gut. He sent the replaced log flying before he jumped closer to Neji, keeping an eye on the slower TenTen. Team Ten eyed the three in confusion, but they wisely jumped back as well, Ino having recovered from her failed technique by now.

"Listen to me," Neji said clearly, aware that Team Ten was shamelessly listening in as well. "We're surrounded by numerous Bunshin."

TenTen let out a snort. "What? Why are you worried about the simple Bunshin? Your Byakugan can't be fooled by it."

"They're not regular Bunshin," Neji said sharply. "It's a technique… A jounin level technique from what I have been told that forms a solid Bunshin, one capable of fooling the Byakugan."

Lee raised an eyebrow. "Who managed this youthful technique?"

"Uzumaki Naruto," Neji said coldly, causing his team and Team Ten to glance over at the hoodied girl. "Second, Uchiha Sasuke is clearly proficient in ninjutsu, taijutsu, and weapons. He has shown that he works well with Naruto, and if you noticed their only straightforward ninjutsu attack clearly, it was aimed at you, Lee. They know you'll be the biggest threat to them, so they've been trying to take you out first."

"Why is Lee the biggest threat?" TenTen questioned.

"He is a taijutsu specialist, one that does not rely on chakra. It makes the fight much harder for a Sharingan user with a lesser knowledge of taijutsu. Isn't that right, Uchiha?"

"On the dot," he grunted. "You're not bad, Hyuuga."

Neji smirked. "Of course; you are nothing compared to me."

* * *

"Zabuza's going to be ready to fight tomorrow, Setsumi. Have you still not found out where he is?"

Her light blue eyes narrowed in annoyance. "I'm trying! It's not my fault that Gatou has half a million different headquarters."

Kisame was about to provoke her further when Itachi appeared in a swirl of black feathers. "Kakashi has backup."

Kisame raised an eyebrow. "Backup?"

"Team Nine and Ten of Konohagakure. The jounin sensei of each team are Maito Gai and Sarutobi Asuma respectively."

"And the whiny brats?"

Itachi resisted an urge to roll his eyes. "Team Nine is a team that's on their second year, consisting of Rock Lee, Higurashi TenTen, and Hyuuga Neji. Team Ten is a rookie team, just like Team Seven, and consists of Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chouji, and Nara Shikamaru."

"So an offense team and the newest Ino-Shika-Cho formation?" Setsumi muttered.

Itachi nodded. "Have you found him?"

Setsumi's eyes closed briefly before she stood up. "Yes."

Itachi's eyes dimmed; they always did when he was about to actively partake in a mission. "Where?"

"Two miles south from the entrance of the incomplete bridge, there's a small island, too small for a civilization. On there is a cave entrance that leads underwater. That's where Gatou's headquarters is."

"That greedy man actually set up base underwater?" Kisame snorted. "No wonder nobody's found him and chopped off his head yet. And why Setsumi, our main tracker, took ages to find him."

Setsumi glared at him. "It did not take ages."

"It took you much longer than usual," Kisame retorted.

Setsumi turned away. "Whatever. Can we go now?"

"That would be best," Itachi stated. "Setsumi, you lead."

The white haired female nodded before she turned and disappeared. Itachi and Kisame followed without hesitation, vanishing from their spots.

* * *

"You're sure I'll be fine to fight by tomorrow?"

Haku nodded. "But, Zabuza-sama, if you want to be at full strength, you'll need an extra two days."

Zabuza let out a snarl. "And your estimation of Kakashi's recovery?"

"Around the same time as you. He likely won't expect a full out fight until the seventh day of recovery."

Zabuza let out a grunt. "Then we'll strike tomorrow. Kakashi's Sharingan will be rendered useless with the information that you gave me, but I'll still have access to my most powerful weapons. We can't lose."

"Yes, Zabuza-sama," Haku mumbled, ducking his head to ground the herbs more rigorously in order to hide his worried face; Zabuza, after all, refused to let him wear his hunter-nin mask around him.

"I'm going to rest for the remainder of today, stretch a bit tomorrow morning to loosen my muscles, and then we'll strike at the bridge—"

BOOM.

Haku twirled around, the ground herbs falling to the ground along with the bowl, senbon slipping between his knuckles immediately. Zabuza tensed, his hand reaching for the nearest weapon.

"Ah. Found them."

Haku paled when the one who had spoken stepped into the room; nobody from Kirigakure would not recognize the shark-like man.

"Hoshigaki Kisame!"

"Kisame!" Zabuza snarled, sounding just as shocked as Haku, recognizing the man immediately. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Still got quite a mouth on you, I see." Kisame's face broke out into a large smirk. "And you're still dragging that kid around — though I never knew he was a Yuki."

Haku tensed as Zabuza's eyes narrowed. Nobody knew that Haku was a Yuki — they were thought to be a wiped out clan, after all — until he himself revealed his Kekkei Genkai, so why…?

"Kisame. I thought she told you not to break down the doors."

Zabuza frowned further as somebody wearing the same cloak as Kisame stepped in. Was that black cloak with the red clouds the latest fashion trend or something?

"Itachi-san, the door was locked; of course I had to break it down. What else was I going to do? Knock and wait for them to open the door to welcome me with a basket of cookies?"

"Break the lock, perhaps?"

"It was a knob. I don't have the precise skill that you have to break that kind of lock."

"Then you should have waited."

"Waited while they could have gotten away? Nah."

Itachi let out a small sigh as he closed his eyes. "Whatever. If Setsumi gets mad, you'll be the one taking the brunt of it."

Haku's blood froze. _Setsumi?_

A loud clang rang through the room; Zabuza had dropped the kunai in his hand. "S-Setsumi? Did you just say Setsumi?"

Kisame glanced at him curiously before snapping his fingers almost mockingly, as though as he had just remembered something when he had clearly expected the reaction. "Oh, yeah. You're her godfather, right? I can't believe you never actively searched for her."

Zabuza snarled. "I did search for her! I searched for weeks until I gave up… She's dead!"

"Dead?"

The female voice swept through the room, arresting Zabuza and Haku to their spots.

"I am most certainly not dead, thank you very much."

His eyes took in her white flowing hair, her light blue eyes, the simple light blue shirt and skirt…

The thin black sweater she left unzipped, a single red cloud above her heart.

"It… It can't be…"

" _Zabuza-san…"_

 _Zabuza glanced at his goddaughter; despite every attempt to get her to not address him so formally — it made his skin crawl uncomfortably — but his goddaughter still addressed him in that way._

" _Yes?"_

" _I have a question."_

 _Zabuza frowned before he straightened, turning around to face her entirely. It was rare she would ask a question — she had done so often a couple of years ago, but not anymore._

" _What's wrong?"_

" _What would you do if I'm not part of your life anymore?"_

 _His blood ran cold, but he replied evenly,_

" _I don't know. But it won't be good."_

 _She closed her eyes. "I see."_

 _Two days later, she was gone._

"Setsumi?..."

* * *

"Lee, do your best to keep the Uchiha engaged. If both he and his team are working to take you down, it means that you're the biggest threat to them. Hinata- _sama_ ," he spat the name as though as it was poison, "is too weak-boned to do anything, and Naruto appears to be acting as backup. The Uchiha's the only threat."

Lee nodded, his usually cheerful face set in stone. "Got it."

Naruto's lips twitched into a small smirk. It was true they were working to take Lee out to benefit Sasuke the most, but that didn't mean he was the only threat. She was there, and the role of support never lasts long when she's the one handling it.

And that Hyuuga had no clue how wrong he was about Hinata.

"Sasuke—"

The Uchiha nodded, cutting her off. Hinata mirrored him, both dashing into the fray.

Shikamaru was about to move when Naruto appeared in front of the three, a small smirk on her face. "My apologies, Shika, but I'm afraid you cannot interfere."

The Nara raised an eyebrow. Did she really think she could take on the Ino-Shika-Cho trio alone?

In a poof of smoke, two clones were next to her.

 _Well… Shit._

He didn't have time to think as each Naruto held up two fans, launching himself off the floor.

Meanwhile, Sasuke had engaged both Lee and Neji at the same time with the aid of two Naruto clones. The clones were constantly being replaced as they took hits whenever Sasuke wasn't able to avoid them in time.

That left TenTen with Hinata.

TenTen knew that Neji was rude to anyone he disliked or deemed weak. Thus, she was not surprised that Hinata was not weak; Neji just simply disliked her.

She was, however, surprised by _how_ strong she was.

She already knew that Sasuke was strong, labelled as a prodigy in his year of graduates. The fact that he and a couple of those odd solid Naruto Bunshin were capable of fighting Neji and Lee was enough of a signal that he was skilled.

Naruto was a mystery. She had to have some skill if she was capable of creating Bunshin that could fool Neji's eyes, and she seemed to have a connection with her adoptive father, and to top it all off, she was keeping Team Ten at bay all by herself. Well, herself and a couple of her clones.

After what Neji had said so often, TenTen believed Hinata wasn't a problem. She knew she likely was skilled in some way…

But she didn't expect to be _losing_.

TenTen let out a cry of pain as her arm burned. Hinata withdrew her palm, sending the other forward, effectively freezing her other arm.

"I am sorry for this, TenTen-san," Hinata mumbled as she turned her body sideways.

TenTen looked up hazily, making out her blurry form, the area around her littered with weapons.

She coughed out blood as chakra shot through her solar plexus, and she crumbled, laying on the ground in pain.

"It will fade soon," Hinata assured her before she turned, running to assist Naruto, whose attention was divided between helping Sasuke and keeping Team Ten away.

At least, that was the plan.

Kakashi jolted.

The movement was so irregular, so uncommon, that everyone turned to stare at the jounin. The words that left his mouth froze their blood.

"Zabuza's at the bridge."

In seconds, they were running for the bridge, TenTen with the aid of Hinata's medicinal cream and Lee, Kakashi explaining along the way,

"The two Kage Bunshin I sent to keep an eye on the bridge… One of them dispelled. Zabuza's at the bridge — we were right about his accomplice — but he's not attacking any of the Nami no Kuni people—" Kakashi's body tensed as information rushed into his head once again.

"What?" Asuma questioned.

Kakashi took a deep breath. "Hoshigaki Kisame was spotted by my clone at the bridge."

* * *

"Setsumi? Where have you been all these years? Why did you leave?!"

Zabuza's focus was split, half of it on the emotionless face of his goddaughter, the other half on dodging Kisame's lazy swipes. It was clear his fellow missing-nin wasn't trying.

With any other opponent in any other situation, he would be furious, but currently, he was more concerned about Setsumi.

"Setsumi! Answer me!"

"Kisame, stop."

Samehada froze immediately,and with a wide grin, Kisame obeyed, stepping back to join Itachi. The Uchiha was entirely focused on Zabuza's accomplice, keeping him arrested to the spot with his piercing eyes.

"Zabuza-san…"

Zabuza flinched.

"Why I left was simple. I hated Kirigakure. Because I was hidden all the time, I couldn't polish my skills. I left because I needed to grow stronger."

"You could have trained with me, Setsumi! And besides that, it makes no sense for your current position. Why did you join a criminal organization? You're not somebody to work under others!"

"I longed for a family again, so I decided to stay."

" _Setsumi, I want to ask you something."_

 _The white haired girl didn't look away from the window. "Yes, Itachi?"_

" _Why did you decide to stay? You were captured and forced here… So why did you end up cooperating?"_

 _Her eyes closed. "Do you know what I miss from that village?"_

" _From Kirigakure? No."_

" _A family. I miss my Yuki family. I miss my godfather." She turned, smiling slightly. "But Akatsuki gave me another option. If I stayed here, I would be working under somebody. But at the same time, I would grow stronger and I would have a family again._

" _And that, for me, was more important."_

"Then why are you still with them _now_? I watched you for years since you were born! I'm your only family now! How could you—"

Itachi finally spoke, "We are her _family_."

" _Itachi-san, can I come in?"_

 _Itachi blinked. Only one person in the organization called him Itachi-san, and her voice was a dead giveaway. Quickly slipping a shirt over his bare chest, he called, "Yes."_

 _Sure enough, when the door creaked open, it was Setsumi who stepped in. Itachi raised an eyebrow at the nervous look on her face._

 _He didn't know the young Yuki for long, but he knew the new recruit (forced in, actually) was a fairly serious person; in fact, she reminded him of himself._

 _Thus, the fact she was allowing a sensitive emotion like nervousness show on her face was surprising._

" _Setsumi? What's wrong?"_

 _Her eyes looked everywhere but at him. "I heard about… Why you were recruited into Akatsuki."_

 _His body stiffened._

" _And… About the others. But all of you are genuine missing-nin… Prodigies, if you will. And… I'm not sure why the Leader would bother you and Kisame-san with the task of getting me here when I'm not like that."_

 _Itachi blinked, his body relaxing. He had expected some sort of lecture or disbelief at what he did, not her own hesitation about her skills._

" _Setsumi, look at me."_

 _She did so hesitantly, and once she did, Itachi's onyx orbs arrested her to the spot._

" _I won't lie to you. The Leader first eyed you because of your Kekkei Genkai. Then, he decided you would be helpful if properly trained; after all, you didn't, you couldn't participate in the academy."_

 _Setsumi let out a small wince._

" _But our Leader does not take in random people who just have the potential to be strong with training. No, he takes in those he realizes already possess strength. You are a prodigy, Setsumi, and if you weren't, he would have never bothered to get you."_

 _Emotions flickered in her eyes. She was, of course, glad she wasn't useless, but at the same time, Itachi had just explained to her she was being used._

 _Itachi inwardly sighed. She was younger than everyone that had been recruited; it was no surprise she was confused._

" _Setsumi, remember this. Nobody is in Akatsuki just to serve the Leader. We all have different purposes."_

 _She closed her eyes. "Okay."_

"We took care of her. We taught her how to defend herself from the evils of the world — rapists, murderers, abusers. We told her how to tell truth from false, right from wrong. What right do you have to say that you are her only family?"

Kisame raised an eyebrow. It was rare for Itachi to say so much at one point to enemies, and even rarer for him to say so in defense of another.

He inwardly smirked.

"You closed off her emotions!" Zabuza spat angrily. "Setsumi was never like this! She was scared and confused over the loss of her clan, but even so, she had emotions! She's never…"

His voice broke.

"She's never been so dispassionate before…"

Kisame decided to get the topic back to their mission. "Look, Zabuza, are you going to join us or not?"

Zabuza's glare practically pierced through his skull. "Of course not. What will happen to Haku if I do that?"

Kisame's smirk widened. "Then you die."

BAM!

* * *

Naruto's stride only momentarily, but her team knew her well enough that the brief pause made a huge difference. Sasuke narrowed his eyes, whereas Hinata gave her an inquiring look.

Naruto shook her head slightly, though inwardly, she was still extremely disturbed.

Yuki's Mark was glowing.

She didn't know why. Of course, the mark glowing was no oddity. Every time she touched it, it glowed. When she used Kurama's chakra, it glowed, since it was intertwined with it.

But it had never glowed randomly on her own before.

Sasuke and Hinata, on either side of her, gradually joined her on the same limbs she was jumping from.

The raven haired male spoke first. "I know something is wrong."

Naruto ducked her head slightly. "It's nothing. You don't know about it."

Sasuke frowned.

 _I still haven't asked her…_

 _Why does she have two other chakra?_

Hinata bit her lip. Her Byakugan had noticed two primary chakra — Naruto's and the demon in her. She also, however, noticed that the demon's chakra was not entirely one; it appeared to have another mixed into it. She just never thought much of it.

But now…

Maybe it was something important, after all.

"Fine. But I _will_ get answers after this mission."

Sasuke split away from his two female teammates, and Naruto let out a small sigh.

"Naruto-chan, he's just trying to look out for you."

"I know," she replied softly.

Hinata nodded slightly, knowing she wanted time to think, and she gradually distanced herself again, back in formation.

Kakashi, in the front, didn't even have to look back; he felt everything they did.

Asuma and Gai, who brought up the very rear, both glanced at each other questioningly.

The other genin, other than Neji and Shikamaru, didn't even notice the short but meaningful exchange.

* * *

 _I'm dead._

The thought, which had not arisen since he met Zabuza and followed him, was now pounding fiercely in his brain. Unwillingly, he shut his eyes as he saw Kisame... A freaking _Mizu Bunshin_ of Kisame, raise his odd sword over his head.

 _I couldn't even defeat a clone of him. I'm sorry, Zabuza-sama..._

The blow never came.

Haku opened his eyes to stare into pale blue eyes. His eyes widened as he realized —

It was his clan's heiress.

"Haku-san."

"Setsumi-sama."

Despite the fact he was angry at the girl for participating in an action against him and Zabuza-sama, he was still morally obliged to be polite — This was, after all, his clan's heiress —

Well, technically the Head now, if it weren't for legal issues and common sense issues — like the fact almost nobody knew she existed.

"I am sorry for this."

His eyes flickered from emotion to emotion. How was he supposed to respond to that? Show his fury? Accept it despite knowing he was mad?

Luckily, she spoke before he made a choice. "I know you met Naruto. How is she?"

His head jerked up. "You gave her your Mark, right? She's doing well. A bit secluded, I'd say, but she's quite smart, skilled, and above all, polite."

He noticeably saw tension seep out of her shoulders. "Really? That's good."

"Why do you care so much about her?"

"She had a bad childhood," she offered. "A bad childhood that reminded me of mine."

"How?"

"She has something… Everyone views as the devil himself." She smiled, though the smile was more dark than genuine. "You are like that as well… But you found somebody who loved the very thing people hated you for. Naruto and I were not that lucky."

She turned away. "I don't want to see the possible only other Yuki die, Haku-san. Please, leave. I cannot save my godfather… But I want to at least save you."

Haku's eyes widened as his mind registered what he said.

A scream tore through the bridge.

"ZABUZA-SAMA!"

* * *

"Who could have…"

Hinata gulped, and Ino threw up. Chouji for once couldn't eat, Shikamaru had an odd, contemplating look on his face and the rest of the genin looked mildly uncomfortable at worst.

A few, such as Sasuke and Naruto, didn't even twitch.

Zabuza was clearly dead, the red, practically brown drying streaks plastered on the bridge. He wasn't bisected, though what really happened must have made the man wish he was bisected.

His flesh was shredded, as though as something had drilled a hole into his flesh, pulled it out, and replaced it with a larger drill. It was a slow, painful death, and shed much more blood than a simple bisection.

"Whoever did this is clearly a skilled murderer," Asuma mumbled, kneeling next to the dead man, his eyes running over the death blow. "He knew that this area, the stomach area, wouldn't kill the man quickly — stomach wounds were typically slow to bleed out. He then lowered it slightly so that it scraped the bone — since bony areas hurt more than fleshy areas."

Gai closed his eyes. "His hipbone and part of his femur is literally shattered. It's almost as though as I went and focused my taijutsu on that bone."

Kakashi's one visible eye narrowed. Gai's taijutsu power was, simply put, extremely high, easily making up for his lack in other areas. If he went full power, bones would become dust.

Whoever did this was powerful.

Asuma frowned suddenly. "Kakashi, look at this."

Kakashi stepped a little closer, gingerly trying to avoid the pools of blood that had yet to dry as he crouched near the man. Asuma pointed at an area of the jagged mess.

"Look."

Kakashi had to squint his eye to see it — he didn't know how Asuma noticed it so quickly — but nevertheless, he quickly realized it was not something that should be in a human body.

Taking out a kunai, Kakashi carefully removed the object, causing Ino to throw up again. He lifted it closer to his face.

"Is that a fish scale?"

Asuma shrugged at his question. "I don't see what else it can be, but why would a fish scale be in Zabuza's body? I know he's a Kirigakure missing-nin, but he can't possibly be part fish."

Gai frowned. "There's a residue of chakra on that."

Both jounin stared at him. Gai, having only one technique that could utilize chakra, was the most sensitive to chakra traces. "This scale has chakra in it?"

Gai nodded.

Kakashi frowned, but he took out a scroll and sealed the kunai, scale still on it, away. "We'll have to give that to Hokage-sama."

Asuma nodded. "Well, now that Zabuza is out of the equation, what —"

"I see… the self-proclaimed demon was just a little baby after all."

Gatou originally had extremely high self-esteem with a hundred bandit mercenaries behind him, but it quickly faded when twelve annoyed gazes of _shinobi_ locked onto him.

He couldn't even scream when his head was taken off.

* * *

Kisame stayed quiet as Itachi stared at Setsumi, the three of them heading for the nearest Akatsuki base, where the Akatsuki would meet up in person for the first time that month.

"You didn't kill the boy."

"He got away."

Itachi closed his eyes. He didn't have to say it.

Both he and Kisame knew that was a lie.

* * *

 _ **It's been a while since I last updated, huh? Well, this chapter is much longer than the previous ones, so consider that as repayment.**_

 _ **This chapter isn't as good as I want it to be, maneuvering so many characters around. I made Itachi and Setsumi bypass the Konoha ninja simply because it'll be more fun that way. Thus, do keep in mind that Naruto still refers to Setsumi as Yuki; I myself might interchange between those two names. It might happen in the story depending on the situation.**_

 _ **I really wanted to add more Shikamaru and Naruto time in this, but alas, I set the pace much faster than I originally expected. Once they're in Konoha, though, things will happen, and time shall stretch. :)**_

 _ **Ja ne, everyone. I'm still here, writing and updating, so don't count me out yet!**_


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